THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 


Dr.  Montessori 


I  THE 

MONTESSORI  MANUAL 


IN  WHICH  DR.  MONTESSORI 'S  TEACHINGS  AND  EDUCATIONAL 

OCCUPATIONS  ARE  ARRANGED  IN  PRACTICAL  EXERCISES 

OR  LESSONS  FOR  THE  MOTHER  OR  THE  TEACHER 


BY 

DOROTHY  CANFIELD  FISHER 

AUTHOR    OF    "A    MONTESSORI    MOTHER," 
"THE    SQUIRREL-CAGE,"    ETC. 


CHICAGO 

THE  W.  E.  RICHARDSON  CO. 
1913 


Copyright  1913 

BY 

THE  W.  E.  RICHARDSON  CO. 


All  Right*  Reserved,  Including  That 

of  Translation  into  Foreign 

Languages. 


FOREWORD 

It  is  now  a  year  since  the  publication  of  "The  Montessori 
Mother, ' '  a  year  which  has  brought  to  the  author  of  that  volume  a 
great  mass  of  correspondence  and  innumerable  personal  interviews 
with  American  mothers  interested  in  the  new  ideas  about  the  edu- 
cation of  young  children.  This  first-hand  experience  with  a  wide 
circle  of  searchers  for  information  has  shown  me  the  need,  in  the 
case  of  mothers  untrained  in  educational  methods,  of  a  more  con- 
crete and  definite  and  less  philosophical  presentation  of  the  ideas  of 
the  great  Italian  teacher. 

This  unpretentious  Manual  is  designed  to  meet  that  need  and  to 
be  used  by  mothers  of  young  children. 

It  is  also  hoped  that  teachers  will  receive  valuable  hints  from 
the  suggestions  in  its  pages,  which  their  greater  experience  and  pro- 
fessional training  will  enable  them  to  expand  into  school-room  exer- 
cises. For  instance,  many  of  the  games  and  all  of  the  gymnastic 
exercises  suggested  are  practicable  and  desirable  for  any  play- 
ground where  young  children  gather. 

As  a  majority  of  the  letters  received  from  inquiring  mothers 
have  been  concerned  with  the  prickly  questions  of  obedience  and 
the  general  disciplinary  atmosphere  of  the  young  child's  life,  I 
have  thought  best  to  add  to  the  remarks  about  the  use  of  the  manu- 
factured and  home-made  apparatus,  some  practical  hints  about  the 
disciplinary  management  of  young  children.  It  is  my  earnest  hope 
that  these  suggestions  as  to  the  daily  routine  of  life  for  young  chil- 
dren will  aid  some  of  the  mothers  perplexed  about  the  problem  of 
teaching  their  children  the  habit  of  cheerful,  sunny  self-discipline 
and  self-control. 

DOROTHY  CANFIELD  FISHER. 
Arlington,  Vermont,  August,  1913. 


281463 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 
SOMETHING  WRONG  WITH  MODERN  EDUCATION 

DR.  MONTESSORI  TO  THE  RESCUE — HER  GREAT  IDEA 

AN  ITALIAN  CASA  DEI  BAMBINI 


9-15 
16-21 
22-29 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  IN  AMERICAN  HOMES  AND  SCHOOLS, 

FOR  EXERCISES  AND  DETAILS,  SEE  INDEX.  30-102 

NATURE  STUDY  103-106 

MONTESSORI  DISCIPLINE  AND  OBEDIENCE  107-123 

SOME  QUESTIONS  THAT  ARE  ANSWERED  FOR  MOTHERS  AND 

TEACHERS  24 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

DR.  MONTESSOEI Frontispiece 

AT  UNDIRECTED  PLAY  WITH  THE  DIDACTIC  OR  SENSE  TRAINING 

MATERIALS 14 

CHILDREN  BUSY  WITH  THE  CYLINDRICAL  INSERTS 20 

THE  DRESSING  FRAMES  ARE  FASCINATING  FOR  SMALL  CHILDREN  20 
LEARNING  MUSCULAR  CO-ORDINATION  BY  MEANS  OF  MENTAL 

INSETS    20 

THE  BLINDFOLD  GAME  WITH  THE  WOODEN  INSETS — DEVELOP- 
ING THE  MUSCULAR  SENSE 20 

EXERCISING  THE  SENSE  OF  TOUCH  COMBINED  WITH  MUSCULAR 

SENSE  IN  LEARNING  THE  FORM  OF  LETTERS 38 

WORKING  -WITH  THE  MONTESSORI  MOVABLE  ALPHABET 38 

A  SPONTANEOUS  WRITING  LESSON 54 

THE  MONTESSORI  LONG  STAIR 54 

CHILDREN  PUTTING  AWAY  DIDACTIC  MATERIAL,  NATIONAL  KIN- 
DERGARTEN COLLEGE,  CHICAGO 86 

TORRESDALE  HOUSE  102 

JUNIOR  MONTESSORI  ROOM,  TORRESDALE 102 

BEPEESENTATIVE  PARTS  OF  THE  MONTESSOEI  DIDACTIC 
APPARATUS 

(Opposite  Page  30) 

Color  Spools Page  30 

Buttoning  and  Lacing  Frames,  Exercise  Two Plate         I 

Solid  Geometrical  Insets,  Exercise  One . . , Plate       II 

The  Long  Stair,  Exercise  Six Plate       II 

The  Tower,  Exercise  Four .Plate     III 

7 


8  .    .  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Broad  Stair,  Exercise  Five Plate      III 

Sandpaper  Board,  No.  1,  Exercise  Seven Plate      IV 

Sandpaper  Board,  No.  2,  Exercise  Eight Plate      IV 

Color  Boxes,  Exercises  Sixteen  and  Seventeen Plate        V 

Sound  Boxe*,  Exercise  Ten Plate        V 

Plain  Geometrical  Insets,  Exercises  Eleven  and  Twelve.Plate      VI 

Plain  Geometrical  Forms,  Exercise  Thirteen Plate     VII 

Parts  of  Movable  Alphabet,  Exercise  Nineteen Plate  VIII 

Computing  Boxes,  Exercises  Twenty-three  and 

Twenty-four Plate  VIII 

Illustrations  in  this  volume,  if  not  otherwise  indicated  below  the  illus- 
trations themselves,  are  copyrighted  1913,  by  The  House  of  Childhood,  Inc., 
200  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y.  This  firm  has  been  designated  by  Dr. 
Montessori  as  the  sole  licensee  for  her  apparatus  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  They  manufacture  and  distribute  the  Didactic  Apparatus  herein 
illustrated. 


THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

i 

SOMETHING  WRONG  WITH  MODERN 
EDUCATION 

One  of  the  most  distinguishing  features  of  twen- 
tieth-century life  is  the  deep-rooted,  wide-spread 
dissatisfaction  with  the  way  modern  children  are 
being  educated.  In  most  great  world-centers  one 
finds  the  same  naive  certainty  that  there,  in  that 
spot,  the  problem  is  most  insoluble,  and  that  else- 
where conditions  are  better.  In  our  America 
everyone  is  decrying  our  national  fault  of  cheap 
superficiality  as  the  poison  of  our  schools  and  look- 
ing with  longing  eyes  toward  the  " thoroughness" 
of  German  and  English  methods.  In  England 
they  are  bewailing  their  hide-bound,  slow  conserv- 
atism and  envying  American  flexibility  and  quick- 
ness in  facing  the  problem  of  education.  In 
France  they  are  appalled  at  the  mental  inertia  of 
the  pupils  and  in  Germany  they  are  crying  out 
that  their  insistence  on  the  letter  has  killed  the 
spirit. 


10  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  we  are  suddenly 
demanding  more  of  education  than  we  ever  before 
dreamed  possible.  It  is  not  that  our  schools  or 
our  methods  of  education  are  worse  than  those 
which  have  preceded  them,  but  that  we  see  them 
to  be  so  far,  far  below  what  they  might  be — what 
they  ought  to  be.  The  disquieting  truth  which 
has  so  upset  us  all  is  that  there  is  no  real  reason 
why  every  child  should  not  be  really  educated  in 
the  way  which  would  bring  out  the  greatest 
number  possible  of  his  own  individual  powers, 
which  are,  of  course,  different  from  the  powers 
of  every  other  human  being  in  the  world. 

We  are  all  dolefully  agreed  that  this  is  not  being 
done,  that  a  large  per  cent  of  the  innate  abilities 
of  the  population  of  the  world  is  wasted  for  lack 
of  proper  training,  and  that  a  tragic  per  cent  of 
the  time  spent  in  school,  is  spent  to  no  purpose, 
is  practically  blotted  from  the  all-too-short  lives 
of  the  helpless  children,  subjected  to  a  meaningless 
routine. 

A  highly  successful  head  of  a  department  in 
a  New  York  Public  High  School  told  me,  not 
long  ago,  that  after  his  lifetime  of  experience 
in  modern  education  he  had  sickening  moments  of 
doubt  as  to  whether  the  whole  system  did  not  do 
more  harm  than  good,  inasmuch  as  it  seemed  to 
crush  out  what  small  natural,  genuine 


SOMETHING  WRONG  WITH  MODERN  EDUCATION      11 

abilities  the  children  have,  in  order  to  replace 
these  by  a  certain  amount  of  rote-learned  "  in- 
formation." "We  destroy,"  he  said,  sadly,  "the 
living,  vital,  eternal  and  immortal  processes  of 
invention,  resourcefulness  and  logic  and  prop  up 
unsteadily  in  their  places,  a  large  number  of  facts, 
which  will  all  be  swept  away  by  the  research  of 
the  next  fifty  years." 

This  note  of  alarm  is  to  be  heard  from  every 
corner  of  the  civilized  world,  clear,  unmistakable, 
practically  unanimous.  But  the  chorus  of  sug- 
gested causes  for  this  lamentable  condition  is  confus- 
ing in  its  variety;  while  as  for  possible  remedies, 
the  contradictory  recommendations  are  deafening 
and  innumerable. 

TIME  UNPROFITABLY  SPENT. — And  yet  there  are 
one  or  two  common  notes,  one  or  two  commonly 
admitted  flaws  in  present  systems  of  education. 
Everywhere  people  cry  out  that  children  do  not 
make  the  most  of  their  time;  that  only  a  small 
part  of  their  school-life  is  spent  in  educating 
themselves;  that  most  of  it  seems  to  be  spent 
unprofitably,  for  one  reason  or  another,  mostly  for 
reasons  connected  with  our  traditional  ideals  of 
school  order  and  discipline  and  regularity.  And 
yet  these  ideals  are,  in  spite  of  all  the  uneasiness, 
usually  accepted  unquestioningly,  as  though  they 
were  axiomatic  laws  of  nature.  We  are  told  that 


12  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

with  modern  conditions,  there  cannot  be,  at  the 
very  least,  less  than  thirty  children  in  a  class; 
which  means  with  present  school  methods  that  dur- 
ing a  great  deal  of  the  time,  twenty-nine  children 
are  sitting  passively,  waiting  their  turn,  while  one 
child  is  getting  a  little  brief  educational  exercise; 
which  means  that  lessons  must  be  kept  down  to 
the  capacity  of  the  dullest  of  the  thirty  and, 
therefore,  that  twenty-nine  children,  finishing  their 
lesson  before  him,  must  pass  empty,  profitless  time, 
varying  in  a  vicious  ratio  according  to  their 
native  ability. 

THE  BRIGHT  CHILD  UNPROVIDED  FOR  BY  PRESENT 
SYSTEM. — Everyone  must  remember  the  pregnant 
exclamation  of  the  old  educator  at  the  great  edu- 
cational convention,  "We  have  methods  for  the 
dull  child,  and  systems  for  the  deficient  child,  but 
God  help  the  bright  child!" 

To  keep  thirty  children  moving  as  one,  which 
is  (so  we  seem  to  think)  the  only  way  to  avoid 
intellectual  and  moral  anarchy  and  chaos,  a  great 
deal  of  avowed  and  a  still  greater  deal  of  un- 
avowed  marking-time  is  necessary.  One  boy  has 
a  natural  gift  for  mathematics,  and  in  two  months 
time  has  mastered  the  arithmetical  work  intended 
for  the  year  in  his  class.  Is  his  mind  given  more 
of  the  food  it  craves  and  which  it  can  so  well 
digest?  Is  he  allowed  to  go  on,  to  take  the  next 


SOMETHING  WKONG  WITH  MODERN  EDUCATION     13 

step  for  which  he  is  so  eagerly  ready?  Not  at 
all.  His  memory  is  not  quick  to  retain  the  in- 
sanities of  English  spelling,  and  hence,  so  goes  our 
logic,  he  must  wait  a  year  before  he  is  allowed  to 
go  forward  in  mathematics.  He  must  waste  a  year 
of  his  short  life — it  is  even  worse  than  wasted,  for 
the  continual  reiteration  in  daily  recitations  of 
problems  which  he  has  already  mastered,  dull  the 
natural  keenness  of  his  mind  and  sicken  him  of 
the  whole  subject;  so  that  when  he  is  finally 
allowed  to  advance,  he  has  but  a  listless  attention 
for  what,  ten  months  before,  would  have  been  an 
intellectual  feast  for  an  eager  appetite. 

ARBITRARY  CLASSIFICATION  UNDESIRABLE. — Our  edu- 
cational specialists  admit  that  this  is  unfortunate, 
but  insist  that  it  is  inevitable.  What  can  be  done? 
A  big  schoolhouse,  containing  six  hundred  chil- 
dren, would  be,  we  are  told,  in  utter  confusion 
and  turmoil  if  the  children  were  allowed  continu- 
ally to  pass  from  one  class  to  another.  Who 
would  decide  every  day  or  even  every  week  which 
class  each  child  belonged  to?  As  if  it  made  the 
slightest  difference  what  class  a  child  belongs  to, 
if  he  is  being  satisfactorily  educated!  It  seems 
incredible  to  us  now  that  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury when  Braddock's  soldiers  went  marching  out 
to  fight  the  Indians,  that  no  one  thought  of  ask- 
ing, "What  is  the  good  of  all  those  fine  red  coats, 


14  THE  MONTESSOEI  MANUAL 

if  the  soldiers  only  fight  the  worse  because  of 
them?"  Possibly  in  the  twenty-first  century  it 
will  seem  incredible  that  none  of  us  asked,  "What 
is  the  good  of  classifying  children  arbitrarily  if 
they  only  learn  the  worse  because  of  it?"  Those 
ordered  phalanxes,  marching  up  and  down  our 
well-ordered  schoolhouse  halls,  are  all  very  well; 
but  have  they  anything  to  do  with  educating  the 
individual  child — and,  of  course,  the  individual 
child  is  all  we  ever  have  to  educate. 

CHILDREN  BECOME  PASSIVE. — In  the  chorus  of 
complaint  of  our  systems  of  education,  I  detect 
another  note  common  to  all  countries  and  all  tem- 
peraments. Somehow,  we  accuse  ourselves,  we 
have  mismanaged  things  so  that  children  in  the 
schoolroom  have  a  strange  tradition  of  passivity, 
instead  of  their  natural  buoyant  impulse  to  action, 
so  noticeable  on  their  playgrounds.  As  one  teacher 
cried  out  to  me  not  long  ago  in  a  fit  of  exaspera- 
tion, "By  the  time  they  reach  me  they  haven't 
enough  intellectual  curiosity  left  to  save  their 
minds  alive!  Do  what  I  will,  all  they  do  is  to 
sit  back  and  watch  me  teach."  In  our  reaction 
from  the  piercing  intellectual  bleakness  of  the 
Puritan  regime  of  force  in  education,  we  seem  to 
have  created  in  our  schoolrooms  an  enervating 
atmosphere  in  which  there  is  but  little  brisk,  tonic 
invitation  to  keep  moving  intellectually.  The  child 


1 


At  undirected  play  with  the  didactic  or  sense-training  materials 


SOMETHING  WRONG  WITH  MODERN  EDUCATION      15 

who  sits  passively  quiet  is  too  often  praised  as 
being  a  "good"  child.  He  is  too  often  encouraged 
to  do  this  instead  of  to  exercise  his  intellectual 
muscles  by  a  constant  participation  in  a  variety  of 
interesting  movements,  taken  spontaneously. 


II 


DR.  MONTESSORI  TO  THE  RESCUE— THE 
UNDERLYING  IDEA  OF  HER  SYSTEM 

It  was  with  the  echo  in  my  ears  of  a  great  deal 
of  such  clamor  and  unrest  from  both  teachers  and 
parents  that  I  went  to  Rome  the  winter  of  1911-1912, 
having  for  one  of  my  objects  the  investigation  of  a 
new  system  of  education  for  very  small  children,  said 
to  have  been  devised  by  an  Italian  woman.  I 
was  in  rather  a  sceptical  frame  of  mind.  There 
have  been  in  America  a  good  many  new  "  sys- 
tems" of  education  which  have  come  to  very  little. 
Italy  is  notoriously  behind  the  rest  of  the  world 
in  her  public  schools.  It  seemed  not  likely  that 
America  would  have  much  to  learn  from  a  new 
variety  of  Kindergarten  established  in  Rome.  Be- 
fore I  went  to  visit  this  new  variety  of  infant- 
school,  I  procured  the  book  written  on  the  sys- 
tem by  the  woman-doctor  who  had  founded  it. 
I  found  the  volume  in  some  ways  rather  hard 
reading,  written  in  difficult  Italian,  full  of  tech- 
nical terms,  medical  facts  of  which  I  had  been 
ignorant,  physiological  pyschology  and  the  nerv- 

16 


THE  UNDERLYING  IDEA  17 

*• 

ous  reactions  in  the  human  brain.  But  in  spite 
of  all  these  difficulties  I  was  held  as  I  have 
never  been  held  by  the  most  absorbing  novel,  and 
when  I  finally  laid  down  the  bulky  volume,  it  was 
with  the  certainty  of  having  seen  a  great  light. 

Here  was  a  doctor,  who  had  begun  with  a 
purely  medical  interest  in  children's  brains,  who 
had  grappled  hand  to  hand  with  the  heart-break- 
ing problem  of  the  education  of  mentally  deficient 
children  and  who,  in  that  struggle,  had  discovered 
certain  laws  about  the  intellectual  tendencies  and 
intellectual  activities  of  childhood  in  general.  She 
" discovered"  them,  as  a  scientist  does  discover 
general  laws,  as  Newton  discovered  the  law  of 
gravity.  He  was  not  the  first  man  who  had  ever 
seen  an  apple  drop  to  the  ground.  Everybody  for 
centuries  had  known  that  they  fall  thus,  and  had 
been  taking  advantage  in  a  fitful,  irregular  way 
of  this  only  half-consciously  known  information. 
Newton  " discovered"  no  new  thing.  He  formu- 
lated the  general  underlying  principles,  involved 
in  phenomena  already  observed,  he  made  that  in- 
formation accurate,  definite,  to  be  counted  upon, 
to  be  employed  with  certainty  of  the  result,  to  be 
used,  as  it  has  been  used,  in  the  exploration  of 
the  solar  system. 

Dr.  Montessori  emerged  from  her  laboratory 
work  with  deficient  children  with  scientific  proofs 


18  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

of  certain  fundamental  principles  of  children's 
intellectual  processes.  And,  being  a  scientist,  she 
did  what  few  of  us  really  can  do,  she  believed  in 
facts  scientifically  proved. 

ACTS  UPON  FACTS  SCIENTIFICALLY  PROVED. — 
What  were  these  facts?  In  essence  nothing  new, 
nothing  that  we  do  not  admit  in  theory,  although 
we  do  not  have  the  courage  to  act  upon  them. 
What  is  so  startling  about  Dr.  Montessori 's  atti- 
tude towards  education  is  the  honest,  scientist's 
integrity  of  her  logic.  She  continually  says,  in 
substance,  "If  that  is  the  way  children  are  made, 
our  business  is  to  educate  them  accordingly." 

One  of  the  facts  she  rediscovered  is  the  old 
threadbare  truism  that  every  child  is  different 
from  every  other  child.  We  all  knew  that  before. 
The  only  difference  between  Dr.  Montessori  and 
the  rest  of  us  is  that  we  disregard  this  well- 
known  factor  in  the  problem  and  that  she  takes 
it  fully  into  account.  It  is  not  surprising  that  she 
does  her  educational  sum  with  much  more  nearly 
an  approximation  to  the  right  answer,  than  our 
wildly  varying  and  always  highly  inaccurate  re- 
sults. 

Dr.  Montessori  found  that  not  only  does  every 
child  differ  from  every  other  child  but,  not  being 
a  fixed  and  inanimate  object,  he  is  in  a  constant 
state  of  flux,  and  differs  from  himself,  from  day 


'THE  UNDERLYING  IDEA  19 

to  day,  as  he  grows.  His  attention,  his  memory, 
his  mental  endurance,  his  intellectual  interest  and 
curiosity,  are  not  only  unlike  those  of  the  child 
next  him  in  school,  but  will  be  tomorrow  differ- 
ent from  what  they  are  today.  Then  instead  of 
turning  tail  and  running  away  (as  most  of  our 
educators  do)  from  the  tremendous  problem  in- 
volved in  adequately  treating  such  complicated 
little  organisms,  Dr.  Montessori  faced  the  situa- 
tion squarely,  accepting  as  every  scientist  does,  the 
odds  given  him  by  Mother  Nature.  It  was  evi- 
dent to  her  that  the  usual  " class  recitation"  and 
"class  lessons"  were  out  of  the  question,  since 
they  could  at  the  best,  possibly  fit  the  needs  of 
only  one  child  in  the  class.  And  yet  it  is  obvi- 
ously impossible,  as  the  world  is  made  up,  to  have 
a  teacher  for  every  child.  There  was  only  one 
way  out — things  must  somehow  be  so  organized 
and  arranged  that,  for  most  of  the  time,  the  child 
can  and  shall  teach  himself. 

THE  UNDERLYING  IDEA. — And  here  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori found  herself  in  happy  accord  with  another 
fundamental  principle  of  the  growth  of  childhood, 
which  she  had  discovered  or  rediscovered  and 
which  may  be  said  broadly  to  be  the  master  idea 
of  her  system.  The  central  idea  of  the  Montessori 
system,  on  which  every  smallest  bit  of  apparatus, 
every  detail  of  technic  rests  solidly,  is  a  full  recog- 


20  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

nition  of  the  fact  that  no  human  being  is  educated 
by  anyone  else.  He  must  do  it  himself  or  it  is 
never  done.  The  learner  must  do  his  own  learn- 
ing, and  this  granted,  it  follows  naturally  that  th< 
less  he  is  interfered  with  by  arbitrary  restraint 
and  vexatious,  unnecessary  rules,  the  more  quickly, 
easily  and  spontaneously  he  will  learn.  Everyon< 
who  wishes  to  adopt  her  system,  or  to  train  chil- 
dren according  to  her  method,  must  learn  con- 
stantly to  repeat  to  himself  and  to  act  upon,  a1 
every  moment,  this  maxim,  "All  growth  must  come 
from  a  VOLUNTARY  action  of  the  child  HIMSELF." 

THE  SYSTEM  MUST  FIT  THE  CHILD. — In  this 
respect  again  Dr.  Montessori  took  squarely  the 
stand  that  education  must  be  made  to  fit  the  child 
and  the  child  not  forced  to  fit  a  preconceived  idea 
of  what  education  ought  to  be  or  do.  She  laic 
down  in  the  first  place  the  principle  that  one 
the  essentials  of  education  is  that  children  shall 
get  that  individual  attention  they  need  so  much, 
by  giving  it  to  themselves,  each  child  being  his  own 
teacher.  She  now  further  stated  as  another  essen- 
tial element  that  education  should  be  so  organized 
that  the  child  shall  ardently  desire  to  teach  him- 
self and  shall  enjoy  doing  it  more  than  anything 
else. 

To  reduce  then,  to  the  barest  outline    (becai 
that  is  the  most  easily  grasped  and  retained), 


Children  busy  with  the  Cylindrical  The  Dressing  Frames  are  fascinating 

Insets  tor  small  children 


Learning  Muscular  Co-ordination  by       The  Blindfold  Game  with  the  Wooden 
means  of  the  Metal  Insets  Insets — Developing  the  Muscular 

Sense 


THE  UNDERLYING  IDEA  21 

new  system  of  training  children,  one  can  say  that 
it  rests  upon  a  full  conviction  of  these  three  facts 
about  the  nature  of  children: 

First. — Children  are  all  different  from  each 
other,  and  hence  need  for  their  fullest  development, 
the  greatest  possible  liberty  for  their  individual- 
ities to  grow;  and  that,  though  of  course  there  are 
many  points  in  common,  they  must  not  be  treated 
in  the  lump,  but  individually. 

Second. — Children  cannot,  so  to  speak,  learn 
from  the  outside.  That  is,  that  the  impulse  to 
learn  must  come  from  within  their  own  minds. 
There  are  absolutely  no  exceptions  to  this  rule. 
Children  must  wish  to  learn,  or  it  is  a  physical 
impossibility  for  them  to  do  so. 

Third. — Children  are  so  made  that,  given  proper 
conditions,  they  prefer  educating  themselves  to  any 
other  occupation. 


Ill 


AN   ITALIAN    CASA   DEI    BAMBINI— A   DAY 
WITH   THE    CHILDREN'S   ACTIVITIES 

What  has  been  said  thus  far  is  almost  certain 
to  have  aroused  in  the  minds  of  many  readers  the 
question,  "How  in  the  world  does  Dr.  Montessori 
accomplish  all  this?"  or,  perhaps  the  more  skep- 
tical exclamation,  "It  can't  be  done,  by  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori or  anyone  else!"  How  can  children  teach 
themselves?  How  can  they  learn  without  detailed 
verbal  instructions  from  a  teacher? 

How  does  a  boy  learn  to  climb  an  apple  tree? 
By  being  turned  loose  in  company  with  the  tree 
at  that  period  of  his  life  when  he  feels  a  surging 
natural  impulse  to  climb  trees.  A  boy  of  three 
can  play  about  the  foot  of  an  apple  tree  day  after 
day  and  no  more  think  of  climbing  it  than  we  of 
walking  the  ridge  pole  of  our  house.  A  man  of 
twenty-one  can  play  tennis,  or  plough,  under  the 
tree's  branches  with  a  similar  lack  of  monkey-like 
desire  to  climb  from  branch  to  branch.  But  some- 
where  between  those  ages,  there  is  a  period  in  every 
normal  life  when,  if  the  opportunity  is  present,  a 

22 


AN  ITALIAN  CASA  DEI  BAMBINi  23 

vast  amount  of  muscular  agility,  strength  and 
accuracy  are  acquired,  together  with  considerable 
physical  courage,  some  daring,  some  prudence,  and 
a  fair  amount  of  good  judgment,  all  without  the 
slightest  need  either  to  force  or  persuade  the  child 
to  the  acquisition  of  these  desirable  qualities. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE  MONTESSORI  DEVICES  AND 
THEIR  EDUCATIONAL  VALUE. — Now,  for  all  intents 
and  purposes,  the  Montessori  apparatus,  so  much 
talked  of,  so  scientifically  and  ingeniously  devised, 
is  simply  composed  of  supplementary  apple  trees. 
It  is  made  up  of  devices  and  inventions  which  are 
intended,  first,  to  stimulate  the  little  child's  natural 
desire  to  act  and  learn  through  action;  second,  to 
provide  him  with  action  which  shall  give  him  a 
better  control  of  his  own  body  and  will-power;  and 
third,  which  shall  lead  him  naturally  from  a 
simple  action  to  a  more  difficult  one. 

TRAINS  THE  FIVE  SENSES. — In  the  case  of  very 
little  children  this  is  (as  far  as  concerns  the 
formal  Montessori  apparatus  sold)  largely  con- 
nected with  the  training  of  the  senses.  The  im- 
portance of  this  detailed,  direct  education  of  the 
five  senses  may  not  be  at  first  apparent.  But  it 
is  evident  that  our  five  senses  are  our  only  means 
of  conveying  information  to  our  brains  about  the 
external  world  which  surrounds  us,  and  it  is  equally 
evident  that  to  act  wisely  and  surely  in  the  world, 


24  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

the  brain  has  need  of  the  fullest  and  most  accu- 
rate information  possible.  Hence  it  is  a  foregone 
conclusion  (once  we  think  of  it  at  all)  that  the 
education  of  all  the  senses  of  a  child  to  rapidity, 
agility  and  exactitude,  is  of  great  importance — not 
at  all  for  the  sake  of  the  information  acquired  at 
the  time  by  the  child,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
five,  finely  accurate  instruments  which  this  educa- 
tion puts  under  his  control. 

MONTESSORI  SPIRIT  Is  THE  FIRST  ESSENTIAL. — 
Much  has  been  written  and  said  about  the  Mon- 
tessori  Didactic  Apparatus,  but  before  I  begin  on 
a  description  of  the  apparatus,  or  of  a  Casa  dei 
Bambini,  I  wish  to  make  this  protest.  The  use 
of  her  apparatus  without  an  understanding  of  the 
underlying  principles  and  without  the  spirit  that 
animates  all  true  Montessori  work  will  result  only 
in  confusion  and  disorder.  The  Montessori  Didac- 
tic Apparatus  is  a  part  of  the  system,  but  the 
most  vital  element  is  the  Montessori  spirit.  The 
apparatus  is  immensely  ingenious,  it  is  wonder- 
fully successful,  it  accomplishes  its  purpose  with 
great  economy  of  effort,  but  the  apparatus  alone 
is  not  enough.  The  mother  on  a  desert  island  who 
is  dominated  by  Dr.  Montessori 's  love  and 
respect  for  the  child  would  accomplish  much  more 
without  the  formal  apparatus  than  a  mother  who 
uses  it  without  the  sympathy  and  understanding 


AN  ITALIAN  CASA  DEI  BAMBINI  25 

requisite  for  success.  So,  dear  mother,  do  not 
become  discouraged  if  you  cannot  afford  the 
apparatus.  Above  all  have  faith  and  confidence 
in  your  child,  and  your  ability  to  put  the  Mon- 
tessori  spirit  into  the  everyday  affairs  of  the 
child's  home  life. 

THE  CASA  DEI  BAMBINI. — If  you  wish  to  see  a 
typical  Casa  dei  Bambini  (which  means  Children's 
Home)  you  are  to  imagine  thirty  children  turned 
loose,  absolutely  loose,  in  a  big,  airy  room,  fur- 
nished with  little  chairs  and  tables,  light  enough 
for  the  little  ones  to  handle,  with  room  outdoors, 
close  at  hand,  where  the  children  may  run  and  play 
when  they  feel  like  it.  You  are  to  imagine  a  quiet, 
gentle,  alert,  nearly  always  silent  superintendent, 
to  whom  all  those  little  self -teachers  turn  for  advice 
in  their  educational  career;  a  piano  in  one  corner 
of  the  room,  to  the  music  of  which  once  in  a  while 
those  children  who  feel  like  it  dance  and  play. 
There  are  soft  rugs  on  the  floor,  on  which  those 
children  who  feel  tired  may  lie  down  and  rest  when- 
ever they  like.  On  the  walls  there  are  pleasant  pic- 
tures of  subjects  suitable  for  little  children.  There 
are  window-boxes  of  plants,  tended  by  the  little 
pupils;  there  are  in  one  corner  some  little  wash- 
stands  with  small  bowls  and  pitchers  where  the 
children  wash  their  own  faces  and  hands,  whenever 
they  are  dirtied  by  their  work  or  play.  In  fact, 


26  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

the  room  and  its  furnishings  are  exactly  like  what 
every  mother  would  like  to  give  her  own  children 
in  her  own  home.  The  Casa  dei  Bambini  is  truly 
a  "Children's  Home" — a  place  for  self-reliant  work 
and  contented  play.  Such  a  home  centers  and  holds 
within  its  walls  the  child's  every  interest,  and  how 
completely  and  happily  children  are  at  home  in  it  I 
FEEL  A  RESPONSIBILITY. — The  children  learn  to 
feel,  because  they  are  allowed  to,  a  real  responsi- 
bility for  the  condition  of  this,  their  very  own  home. 
Before  they  begin  the  morning's  work,  the  school- 
room is  cleaned  by  themselves,  using  tiny  brooms 
and  dustpans,  just  the  right  size  for  their  little 
hands,  and  they  make  their  own  morning  toilets 
neatly  and  cheerfully  at  the  little  washstands.  They 
ail  seem  like  brothers  and  sisters  of  one  big  fam- 
ily, living  the  happiest  and  sanest  of  family  lives 
together  in  one  big,  well-furnished  nursery.  They 
forms  groups  of  two  or  three,  over  some  difficult 
problem;  or  four  or  five  in  a  game  with  some  part 
of  the  apparatus  which  needs  a  number  of  children 
together;  or  ten  or  twelve  in  a  ring-around-the-rosy 
game  to  the  music  of  the  piano.  Out  in  the  play- 
ground, bright  with  flowers  and  plants  of  their 
own  tending,  there  are  always  some  children  who 
are  racing  ?bout  in  an  Italian  version  of  "black- 
man"  or  "blindman's  buff."  No  one  makes  the 
slightest  effort  to  induce  them  to  stop  playing  in 


AN  ITALIAN  CASA  DEI  BAMBINI  27 

order  to  come  and  learn  their  letters  or  the  sim- 
pler processes  of  arithmetic.  They  do  so  of  their 
very  own  accord.  It  has  been  found,  first,  that 
although  they  are  free  to  do  so  if  they  wish,  they 
no  more  wish  to  spend  all  their  time  in  playing 
children's  games  than  workers  in  a  candy  factory 
desire  to  consume  chocolate  drops  all  the  time. 

VALUE  or  FREE-WILL  OVER  ENFORCED  ATTEN- 
TION.— The  second  discovery  is  of  even  greater 
importance  than  the  first;  is  in  fact  of  such  vital 
importance  that  it  cannot  be  too  often  stated  and 
emphasized  in  any  writing  about  this  system.  This 
is  the  discovery  that  one  moment  of  real  attention, 
given  of  the  child's  own  free  will,  with  actual  vivify- 
ing interest  back  of  it,  is  worth  more  educationally 
than  hours  of  enforced  listening  to  a  teacher  teach. 
Such  a  moment  of  real  attention  is  worth  more 
because  it  is  worth  everything,  while  the  enforced 
listening  to  teaching  is  worth  nothing. 

LUNCHEON  IN  THE  CASA  DEI  BAMBINI. — The  chil- 
dren, as  a  rule,  busy  themselves  happily  with  the 
different  parts  of  the  apparatus  most  of  the  morn- 
ing. Towards  noon,  preparations  for  luncheon  begin. 
The  children  take  turns  in  doing  this  work,  four 
or  five  being  charged  every  day  with  the  responsi- 
bility of  setting  the  tables,  bringing  in  the  soup 
tureens,  and  serving  their  little  mates.  There  is 
no  better  description  of  this  most  interesting  and 


28  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

valuable  part  of  the  routine  of  the  day  than  the 
passage  in  Dr.  Montessori's  own  book,  The  Mon- 
tessari  Method,  page  348:  "Any  one  who  has 
watched  them  setting  the  table  must  have  passed 
from  one  surprise  to  another.  Little  four-year-old 
waiters  take  the  knives  and  forks  and  spoons  and 
distribute  them  to  the  different  places;  they  carry 
trays  holding  as  many  as  five  water  glasses,  and 
finally  they  go  from  table  to  table,  carrying  tureens 
full  of  hot  soup.  Not  a  mistake  is  made,  not  a 
glass  is  broken,  not  a  drop  of  soup  is  spilled.  All 
during  the  meal,  unobtrusive  little  waiters  watch 
the  table  assiduously;  not  a  child  empties  his  soup- 
plate  without  being  offered  more;  if  he  is  ready 
for  the  next  course,  a  waiter  briskly  carries  off  his 
soup-plate.  Not  a  child  is  forced  to  ask  for  more 
soup,  or  to  announce  that  he  has  finished. 

"Remembering  the  usual  condition  of  four-year- 
old  children,  who  cry,  who  break  whatever  they 
touch,  who  need  to  be  waited  on,  everyone  is  deeply 
moved  by  the  sight  I  have  just  described,  which 
evidently  results  from  the  development  of  energies 
deeply  latent  in  the  human  soul.  I  have  often 
seen  spectators  moved  to  tears  at  this  banquet  of 
little  ones." 

EXERCISE  THEIR  OWN  CHOICE. — After  lunch,  the 
children  again  choose  freely  their  own  occupations. 
Some  run  out  to  play  on  the  playground;  some 


AN  ITALIAN  CASA  DEI  BAMBINI  29 

water  the  plants  under  their  especial  care;  some 
take  naps  as  long  as  they  like.  By  far  the  greater 
number,  however,  return  to  the  Montessori  appa- 
ratus and  occupy  themselves  with  that  fascinating 
material  until  it  is  time  for  them  to  go  back  to 
their  parents'  homes — for  they  consider  the  school- 
room as  their  own  home.  And  well  they  may,  for 
everything  in  it  is  devised  scientifically,  carefully, 
ingeniously  and  devotedly  to  the  comfort,  profit,  enjoy- 
ment and  self-education  of  children  from  three  to 
seven.  That  is  certainly  not  true  of  the  average 
home  in  Italy  or  America,  but  if  it  were,  how  much 
more  interesting  to  the  child  and  more  helpful  would 
be  the  environments  of  the  home! 


IV 


USE  OF  THE  APPAEATUS  WITH  COMPK 
HENSIVE  AND  PRACTICAL  DIRECTIONS 
TO    THE    MOTHER    OR    TEACHER 

We  in  America  who  have  children  between  the 
ages  of  two  and  seven  can  not  as  yet  send  our  chil- 
dren to  a  Casa  dei  Bambini.  Therefore,  if  we 
wish  our  children  to  profit  by  the  great  work  of 
Dr.  Montessori,  we  must  do  the  next  best  thing, 
and  give  them  the  Montessori  training  in  our  own 
homes.  The  fact  that  we  have  only  the  children  of 
our  own  home  to  deal  with,  as  compared  to  the 
thirty  in  the  Casa  dei  Bambini  should  not  lessen 
the  sense  of  responsibility  or  the  diligence  with 
which  we  strive  to  make  daily  application  of  the 
Montessori  principles.  The  mother  has  some  advan- 
tages which  the  superintendent  of  the  Montessori 
schoolroom  does  not  have.  She  has  the  children 
constantly  with  her,  and  she  can,  if  she  will,  turn 
into  a  Montessori  exercise  almost  everything  the 
child  does  in  the  course  of  his  waking  hours. 
These  valuable  and  constantly  present  opportunities 
for  supplementary  Montessori  work  in  ordinary  home 

30 


Color  Spools 


II. 


II 


it 


fMJBMiy 


III. 


££ 


The   Tower 

(To  be  used  in  Exercise  Four) 


IV. 


Sandpaper  Boards 

(To    be    used    in     K\erri-e-    S.-M-M    and    Kiglit) 


V. 


s       ~ 

Jj 


(To  be  used  in  Exercises  Sixteen  and  Seventeen) 


VI. 


Ij 

c    •- 

o  * 


nnnnnn 


OIOIOIOIOIO 


nnnnnn 


Plane    Geometric   Forms 

(To    be    used    in    Exercise    Thirteen) 


VIII. 


Part   of  Movable   Alphabet 

(To     In-     n-r<l     in     l\rr<i-r     NinrU'«-n) 


Computing   Boxes 

(To  be  used  in  Exercises  Twenty-three  and  Twenu  -lour) 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  31 

life  will  be  touched  upon  as  the  regular  apparatus 
is  described  and  explained  in  the  following  lessons. 
But  this  treatment  must  be  considered  only  sug- 
gestive. Every  mother  with  any  of  the  usual 
American  adaptability  and  ingenuity  can  and  will 
be  able,  after  reading  these  hints,  to  devise  a  hun- 
dred new  exercises  for  her  children — exercises  which 
will  develop  the  typically  Montessori  qualities  of 
muscular  accuracy,  bodily  poise,  mental  ability,  and 
moral  responsibility. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  box  containing  the  Mon- 
tessori apparatus  comes  into  the  home  when  the 
three-year-old  child  for  whom  it  is  intended  is 
asleep.  The  mother  takes  her  time  to  look  over 
the  large  collection  of  queer-looking  objects  and, 
if  she  is  wise,  puts  away,  for  the  present,  every- 
thing but  the  simplest  of  the  Buttoning  Frames  and 
the  three  sets  of  Solid  Geometric  Insets. 

EXERCISE   ONE 

TO  FIX  THE  CHILD'S  ATTENTION  ON  SIZE  AND  FORM 

SOLID  GEOMETRICAL  INSETS. — These  comprise  three 
series  of  wooden  cylinders  set  in  corresponding  holes 
in  a  thick,  smoothly  planed  board.  There  are  ten 
cylinders  to  each  of  the  three  series.  In  the  first, 
the  height  of  the  cylinders  is  constant  and  the  diam- 
eter varies;  in  the  second  series,  the  diameter  is 
constant  and  the  height  varies;  in  the  third  series, 


32  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

the  cylindrical  form  alone  is  constant,  height  and 
diameter  varying.  With  these  insets,  the  child,  work- 
ing independently,  learns  to  discriminate  objects 
according  to  thickness,  height  and  size,  and  the 
material  used  controls  the  error. 

When  the  child  wakes  up,  he  is  told  there  are 
some  new  playthings  in  the  house,  and  one  of  the 
Solid  Geometric  Series  is  shown  him.  As  a  rule, 
he  needs  no  further  supervision  in  the  use  of  this 
piece  of  apparatus,  since  it  is  self-corrective.  If 
he  gets  a  small  cylinder  in  the  big  hole,  when  he 
comes  to  the  small  hole,  the  big  cylinder  will  not 
go  in  it,  and  he  is  forced  to  look  back  to  correct 
his  own  mistake.  Here,  as  in  the  use  of  all  the 
Montessori  apparatus,  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
the  best  thing  one  can  do  for  the  child  is  to  let 
him  alone  as  much  as  possible.  " Hands  off!"  is 
the  motto  for  adults  in  adopting  the  Montessori 
system  for  a  child.  The  important  thing  is  not 
that  the  cylinders  shall  all  be  put  back  in  the  right 
holes,  but  that  the  child  shall  do  it  himself!  Any 
ordinarily  active,  right-minded  baby  of  three  will 
fight  for  this  right  himself,  pushing  away  help  and 
crying  "Let  me,"  and  the  adults  should  religiously 
respect  this  desire  to  begin  a  life  of  self-independ- 
ence. And  yet,  of  course,  adult  brains  can  often 
devise  some  method  of  using  the  apparatus  which 
will  make  the  process  of  learning  self -independence 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  33 

easier  for  the  child.  One  of  the  discoveries  made 
by  Dr.  Montessori  is  that  the  sense  of  touch  is 
very  much  more  developed  in  little  children  than 
the  sense  of  sight;  that  is,  that  they  can  tell  more 
about  an  object  after  they  have  handled  it  than 
if  they  have  merely  looked  at  it.  So  that  in  the 
case  of  the  solid  geometric  insets,  it  is  well  to  explain 
to  a  child  who  has  difficulty  in  getting  the  cylinders 
back  in  the  right  hole  that  if  he  holds  a  cylinder  by 
the  little  knob  with  the  fingers  of  his  left  hand 
and  passes  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand  around 
the  base  of  it,  and  then  around  the  opening  into 
which  he  thinks  it  ought  to  fit,  that  he  will  prob- 
ably be  more  accurate  than  if  he  merely  looks  at 
the  two  objects. 

It  is  well  that  the  mother  should  understand  just 
why  the  child  should  be  interested  in  these  exer- 
cises. There  are  two  fundamental  traits  of  child- 
hood involved:  first,  any  normal  child  takes  a  great 
interest  in  putting  objects  in  rows;  second,  any 
child  is  delighted  when  he  can  put  an  object  into 
an  opening.  Combining  these  two  traits  of  child- 
hood, we  have  a  fascinating  educational  device.  The 
child  is  not  only  happily  employed  but  he  is  learn- 
ing something  that  is  of  value.  He  is  learning2- 
to  discriminate  between  different  objects.  Although 

ft 

he  does  it  unconsciously,  he  is  forming  an  idea  of 
spacial  relations.  He  is  developing  concentration n 


34  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

because  this  play,  fascinating  as  it  is,  requires  con- 
centration. When  he  discriminates  between  the 
different  cylinders,  he  must  necessarily  form  primi- 
tive judgments.  This  brief  description  will,  I  hope, 
give  you  some  idea  of  the  educational  value  of  these 
first  simple  exercises. 

When  the  child  can  successfully  put  the  various 
cylinders  in  their  respective  openings,  the  exercises 
can  be  made  more  complex  by  giving  all  the  cylin- 
ders to  the  child  and  only  one  of  the  bases.  This 
requires  a  greater  discrimination,  making  the  exer- 
cise more  complex.  The  cylinders  can  also  be  used 
a  little  later  in  teaching  nomenclature,  to  show  the 
difference  between  thick  and  thin,  thicker  and  thin- 
ner, high  and  low,  higher  and  lower,  etc. 

After  he  has  mastered  the  simpler  exercises,  the 
child  may  be  blindfolded  or,  looking  in  another 
direction,  place  the  various  cylinders  into  the  open- 
ings. These  exercises  bring  into  play  the  tactile 
and  muscular  senses,  both  of  which  are  very  acute 
in  small  children.  Since  the  child  delights  to  feel 
of  objects,  it  will  not  be  long  until  he  will  take  a 
great  interest  in  the  game  of  "  seeing  with  his 
fingers."  These  sets  of  cylinders  are  perhaps  the 
simplest  of  all  the  equipment  and  at  the  same  time 
I  might  say  they  have  proved  the  most  fascinating 
for  small  children. 

THE  TRACING  or  FORMS,  "THE  BEGINNINGS"  o: 


i 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  35 

WRITING. — The  child  should  be  cautioned  (and  his 
mother  should  take  pains  about  this  in  all  Mon- 
tessori  exercises)  to  make  the  motions  always  from 
the  left  to  the  right,  in  the  directions  in  which  the 
writing  is  done,  for  these  exercises,  unlikely  as 
it  seems,  are  the  beginnings  of  writing  and  reading. 
Then  he  should  be  left  to  "play"  with  this  new  toy, 
as  long  as  his  interest  lasts,  which  will  vary  greatly 
according  to  the  degree  of  development  reached,  the 
temperament  of  the  child,  and  even  his  state  of 
health.  When  he  is  perfectly  well  and  rested  and 
not  hungry,  he  can  do  much  better  work  than  other- 
wise— very  much  like  the  rest  of  us!  His  attention 
to  the  exercise  must,  of  course,  be  spontaneous, 
brought  about  by  the  interest  of  the  task  given, 
and  if  the  task  does  not  happen  to  interest  that 
particular  child  at  that  particular  moment,  nothing 
can  be  gained  by  forcing  him  or  even  coaxing  him 
to  go  on  with  it.  He  will  return  to  it  another  day, 
or  perhaps  even  an  hour  later,  of  his  own  accord. 

EXERCISE   TWO 
FOR   CO-ORDINATING   MOVEMENTS   OF   THE   FINGERS 

THE  BUTTONING  OR  DRESSING  FRAMES. — There 
are  eight  of  the  dressing  or  buttoning  frames.  Any 
one  or  more  of  these  can  be  used  effectively  with- 
out association  with  the  others.  On  six  wooden 
frames  are  mounted  six  pieces  of  cloth  of  varying 


36  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

textures,  to  be  joined  by  means  of  large  buttons 
and  buttonholes,  automatic  fasteners,  small  buttons 
and  buttonholes,  hooks  and  eyes,  colored  ribbons  for 
bow-tying,  and  lacing  through  eyelets.  The  remain- 
ing two  frames  are  mounted  with  leather  pieces, 
one  of  which  simulates  shoe  lacing  and  the  other 
shoe  buttoning,  the  latter  involving  the  use  of  the 
button  hook.  These  exercises  are  for  the  develop- 
ment of  co-ordinate  movements  of  the  fingers.  The 
child  is  taught  to  dress  himself  without  his  really 
knowing  that  a  lesson  is  being  taught  him,  and 
when  the  frames  are  mastered,  his  first  desire  is 
to  make  a  practical  application  of  his  new  ability. 
The  Buttoning  Frame,  or  the  frame  with  "  hooks 
and  eyes,"  should  be  brought  out  first,  and  the 
method  of  fastening  and  unfastening  explained  in 
the  usual  Montessori  way;  that  is,  as  briefly  as 
possible.  It  is  often  best  not  to  say  anything,  but 
merely  to  go  through  the  exercises  one's  self,  unbut- 
toning or  unhooking  the  cloth,  buttoning  or  hook- 
ing it  up  again,  and  handing  the  frame  to  the  child. 
In  most  cases  he  at  once  sets  to  work,  and  even 
though  his  first  efforts  seem  to  the  observing  mother 
incredibly  clumsy  and  slow,  she  must  keep  her 
hands  off,  and  let  him  work  out  his  own  problems. 
The  only  rule  should  be  that  if  he  does  not  wish 
to  play  with  the  apparatus,  or  when  he  grows  tired 
of  its  use,  he  should  put  it  away;  and  for  that  pur- 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  37 

pose  it  is  very  essential  that  there  should  be  a 
well  defined  place,  which  the  child  can  easily  reach, 
for  every  one  of  his  belongings — not  only  for  the 
Montessori  apparatus,  but  for  his  other  toys  and 
for  his  clothing.  The  hooks  should  be  low,  so  that 
little  arms  can  reach  them,  and  the  drawers  where 
clothing  is  put  away  should  be  easy  to  open  and 
shut.  Three  years  is  none  too  young  to  begin  the 
habit  of  order,  which,  like  so  many  other  good 
habits,  may  be  acquired  painlessly  at  an  early  age, 
although  so  nearly  impossible  to  inculcate  after  the 
bad  habits  have  become  fixed.  The  exercises  with 
the  dressing  frames  are  not  necessarily  for  the 
developing  of  the  different  senses.  The  primary 
object  is  to  develop  the  muscular  co-ordination  to 
strengthen  the  child's  little  fingers.  These  materials 
carry  out  Dr.  Montessori 's  ideas  of  simplicity,  self- 
correction  and  general  attractiveness.  They  are  so 
simple  that  the  child  at  once  understands  the  mean- 
ing of  the  game,  and  in  working  with  these  various 
materials  his  little  fingers  and  hands  are  so  strength- 
ened that  he  may  successfully  take  up  more  complex 
and  difficult  work.  Of  course,  one  of  the  incidents 
of  this  work  is  that  he  learns  to  dress  and  undress 
himself.  This,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  not 
the  primary  factor  that  Dr.  Montessori  has  in  mind. 
It  is  incidental  to  the  general  muscular  co-ordination 
that  is  effected. 


38  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

EXERCISE  THREE 

SUPPLEMENTARY     EXERCISES     TEACHING     THE     PRACTICAL 

APPLICATION    OF    KNOWLEDGE    GAINED    WITH 

THE    APPARATUS 

One  obvious  result  sought  in  all  these  exercises 
is  the  beginning  in  the  child's  mind  of  the  habit 
of  concentration  to  the  task  in  hand.  The  insets 
are  primarily  intended,  as  already  stated,  to  teach 
the  child  to  distinguish  between  differences  in  dimen- 
sion and  form,  and  this  can  be  taught  by  supple- 
mentary exercises  in  almost  any  room  of  the  house. 

First.^—In  the  dining-room  he  can  be  given  a 
pile  of  spoons  of  differing  size,  teaspoons,  table- 
spoons, soup-spoons,  coffee-spoons,  etc.,  and  the 
suggestion  made  to  him  that  it  would  be  fun  to 
separate  them  into  piles  according  to  their  sizes. 
In  most  cases,  this  impromptu  Montessori  exercise 
can  be  depended  upon  to  amuse  the  child  for  an 
astonishingly  long  period,  and  it  is,  of  course,  excel- 
lent training  for  his  capacity  to  distinguish  accu- 
rately between  objects  similar  but  of  differing  size. 
In  the  kitchen,  a  pile  of  pans  and  covers  will  afford 
a  great  deal  of  valuable  practice  in  distinguishing 
which  cover  will  fit  which  pan. 

Second. — Out  of  doors,  a  pile  of  stones  of  differ- 
ing sizes  can  be  divided  into  several  piles  of  the 
same  size.  Most  mothers  will  be  surprised  at  the 


Exercising  the  sense  of  touch  combined  with  muscular 
sense  in  learning  the  form  ot  letters 


Working  with  the  Montessori  Movable  Alphabet 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  39 

vast  and  inextinguishable  interest  taken  in  such 
simple  exercises  by  the  average  healthy  child  of 
three  or  over.  The  gain  in  accuracy  of  eye  and 
brain  is  too  obvious  to  need  discussion. 

Third. — The  buttoning  frames  are  intended  first 
of  all  to  teach  the  child  to  use  his  hands  and  fingers 
accurately  and  well,  and  next  to  enable  him  to  dress 
himself  as  far  as  may  be.  This  is  very  important, 
for  the  first  thing  to  be  done  for  a  little  child  is 
to  release  him  as  quickly  as  possible  from  the  prison 
of  babyishness — to  make  it  possible  for  him  to  take 
care  of  himself,  and  not  to  depend  upon  the  serv- 
ices of  others.  As  his  clothes  are  nearly  always 
fastened  with  buttons,  it  is  essential  that  consider- 
able time  be  devoted  to  teaching  him  how  to  manage 
these,  or,  rather,  that  he  shall  be  allowed  to  take 
the  time  necessary  to  learn  this.  For  he  has  a 
natural  fund  of  desire  to  manage  himself  which 
makes  him  eager  to  learn.  The  buttoning  frames, 
being  of  cloth  tightly  stretched  on  wood,  are  easier 
for  him  to  manage  than  the  buttons  on  his  own 
clothes,  although  as  soon  as  he  begins  to  try  to 
button  his  own  coats  and  waists,  he  should  be 
allowed  all  the  time  he  needs  for  his  first  clumsy 
and  ineffectual  attempts.  Remember,  he  should  be 
allowed  all  the  time  he  needs — not  all  the  help  he 
needs!  For  if  he  is  often  helped,  he  will  fall  into 
the  vicious,  invalid's  habit  of  waiting  for  other 


40  THE  MONTESSOKI  MANUAL 

people  to  serve  him.  Care  should  be  taken  that 
the  buttons  on  his  clothes  are  large  and  easily 
grasped  by  his  little  wandering  fingers,  and  that, 
if  possible,  they  should  be  put  on  in  positions  where 
he  can  get  at  them  without  too  much  wriggling  and 
twisting.  This  is  more  important  by  far  than  that 
they  should  be  handsome,  or  set  on  according  to 
the  latest  fashion. 

Fourth. — In  addition  to  the  buttons  and  hooks 
on  his  own  clothes,  it  is  a  good  idea  to  give  him 
other  things  which  fasten  in  that  way;  and  a  large 
doll  which  can  wear  his  own  clothes  is  a  very  good 
aid  at  this  stage  of  his  development.  The  doll  is 
most  easily  made  and  most  serviceable,  constructed 
of  cloth  and  stuffed.  As  it  can  wear  the  clothes  of 
the  child,  he  has  a  large  wardrobe  ready  at  hand 
to  play  with,  and  he  can  manage  it  much  better 
than  the  usual  doll's  clothes  with  minute  buttons 
and  buttonholes,  which  are  hard  even  for  adult 
fingers.  It  is  well  to  remember,  here  and  always, 
that,  as  a  rule,  children  must  have  large  objects 
to  deal  with,  rather  than  small,  if  their  eyesight  is 
to  be  preserved  without  injury. 

Fifth. — The  lace  and  ribbon  frames  are  more 
difficult  to  use  and  are,  of  course,  to  be  held  back 
until  the  child  is  older,  perhaps  four  or  five.  From 
time  to  time,  they  should  be  brought  out  and  a 
simple  experiment  made  of  the  child's  capacity  to 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  41 

deal  with  it.  If  he  does  not  at  once  show  interest 
in  the  problem  of  bow-knots  and  laces,  and  more 
of  a  capacity  to  struggle  with  the  construction  of 
them  than  on  the  last  trial,  the  frame  should  be 
taken  away,  without  comment,  and  not  tried  again 
until  more  progress  has  been  made  in  the  other 
exercises.  It  must  be  remembered,  as  a  general  rule 
for  the  use  of  the  Montessori  exercises,  and  in  gen- 
eral in  the  training  of  little  children,  that  no  pro- 
longed attempt  should  ever  be  made  to  coax  them 
to  continue  an  exercise  which  does  not  interest  them. 
If  they  show  no  spontaneous  interest,  they  are  not 
ready  for  it,  and  time  is  only  wasted  by  any  attempt 
to  force  their  inclination.  When  they  are  ready, 
they  can  learn  in  ten  minutes  what  three  hours  of 
dreary  enforced  practice  was  not  able  to  teach  them. 

EXERCISE  FOUR 

EXERCISES   FOUR,   FIVE   AND   SIX   ARE   ALSO   FOR   THE   FUR- 
THER   CULTIVATION    OF    THE    CHILD'S    VISUAL 
PERCEPTION    OF    DIFFERENCE    IN 
DIMENSION    AND   FORM 

THE  BLOCK  TOWER. — After  the  child  has  had  a 
day  or  so  of  practice  with  the  Geometric  Insets  and 
Buttoning  Frames,  allowing  him  to  take  them  up 
and  lay  them  down  at  will,  it  is  time  to  bring 
out  the  blocks  composing  the  Tower.  The  Tower 


42  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

is  a  series  of  ten  wooden  cubes,  decreasing  in 
size.  Almost  every  nursery  possesses  such  blocks, 
but  few  mothers  are  aware  of  their  educational 
value  or  of  the  distinctive  use  to  which  blocks  of 
graduated  size  should  be  put.  Their  use  should  not 
be  confused  with  that  of  the  ordinary  "  building 
blocks," — cube  blocks  of  unvarying  size.  With  the 
Tower  blocks  there  are  definite  problems  of  classi- 
fication and  discrimination  to  be  solved,  and  to  get 
the  benefit  of  them,  the  child  must  use  them  in  the 
one  correct  way. 

The  mother  builds  up  the  Tower  before  th( 
child's  eyes,  placing  the  largest  block  first,  then  th( 
next  smaller  one,  and  so  on  down  to  the  tiny  littl 
cube  at  the  top.  Then  she  knocks  it  all  down,  and  i: 
her  child  is  the  average  child,  he  needs  no  moi 
incentive  to  duplicate  the  performance  and  to  begi: 
to  educate  himself  as  to  graduations  of  size.  Whei 
he  begins  to  construct  the  Tower  himself,  the  diffi- 
cult thing  for  the  mother  to  do  is  to  avoid  givin| 
him  elaborate  instructions:  "No,  no,  Jimmy — no1 
that  one — that's  not  the  next  size — don't  you  se< 
the  one  by  your  hand  is  bigger?"  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  Th< 
only  good  Jimmy  can  get  of  this  exercise  is  by  learn- 
ing to  see  for  himself  which  is  the  bigger  bloc! 
and  to  do  this  his  mother  must  let  him  alone.  She 
need  not  be  surprised  if  he  makes  one  odd  mistake 
continually,  even  after  he  has  learned  quite  deftly 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  43 

to  construct  the  Tower.  A  great  many  children  find 
it  difficult  to  begin  the  Tower  with  the  biggest  block. 
They  begin  it  with  the  next  biggest,  and,  when  they 
have  finished,  find  that  they  cannot  place  the  largest 
one  without  tearing  down  the  whole  structure.  The 
psychological  processes  involved  in  this  mistake  are 
too  complicated  to  explain  here.  I  mention  it,  lest 
some  anxious  mother  should  think  her  own  three- 
year-old  especially  deficient  in  the  capacity  to  dis- 
tinguish between  sizes. 

One  exercise  that  can  be  profitably  carried  out 
is  to  give  the  Tower  to  the  child  and  have  him 
carry  it,  let  us  say,  from  one  part  of  the  room  to 
another.  In  all  probability,  his  first  attempt  will 
be  far  from  successful.  Let  him  take  his  own  time 
in  the  rebuilding  of  it,  and  then  make  another 
attempt.  Finally,  he  will  be  able  to  carry  it  very 
successfully  from  one  part  of  the  room  to  another, 
thus  showing  the  self-control  that  is  developed. 
Many  mothers  have  also  found  that  the  child  is 
interested  in  the  blindfold  exercises  with  the  Tower. 
This  exercise  merely  affords  another  means  of  devel- 
oping the  different  senses. 

EXERCISE  FIVE 

BROAD  STAIR. — After  the  Tower,  the  next  exer- 
cise is  the  Broad  Stair.  It  is  a  set  of  ten  rectangu- 
lar wooden  blocks,  decreasing  in  height  and  width, 


44  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

length  only  being  constant.  This  is  another  of  the 
visual  perception  exercises.  Here  it  may  be  well 
to  mention  that  when  a  new  exercise  is  given  a  child, 
the  older  ones  are  by  no  means  taken  away.  They 
are  left  in  the  nursery,  where  he  can  get  at  them 
himself  whenever  he  wishes  to,  and  the  new  ones 
simply  added  to  the  store  of  his  riches.  Often,  when 
the  more  elaborate  exercises  are  quite  mastered,  a 
child  will  take  pleasure  in  returning  for  a  time 
to  the  simpler  old  friends  with  which  he  began.  He 
should  be  allowed  to  do  this  quite  as  he  wishes,  his 
own  instinct  being  a  sure  and  accurate  guide  to 
what  is  best  for  him  in  this  respect.  He  is  doing 
what  we  all  like  to  do  occasionally — he  is  "  review- 
ing" what  he  has  learned,  and  making  sure  of  his 
grasp  on  something  which  he  has  not  thought  of 
for  some  time. 

The  Broad  Stair  is  brought  out  in  the  same  quiet 
manner  with  which  the  child  has  been  introduced 
to  his  other  Montessori  "playthings."  The  mother 
arranges  the  blocks  in  regular  order  starting  either 
with  the  biggest  or  the  smallest,  and  laying  the 
others  side  by  side  until  a  regular  stair  is  con- 
structed. Then  she  mixes  the  blocks  up,  and  goes 
away.  The  child,  if  he  is  ready  for  this  exercise, 
at  once  takes  it  up,  and  in  struggling  to  repeat  his 
mother's  feat,  constructs  the  stair,  intellectually  as 
well  as  physically,  and  learns  a  new  variety  o 


• 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  45 

dimension.  Since  all  these  blocks  are  the  same 
length,  and  only  differ  in  height  and  thickness,  his 
problem  is  one  degree  more  difficult  than  in  the 
construction  of  the  Tower. 

It  should  be  remembered  about  these  blocks,  as 
about  all  Montessori  apparatus,  that  they  should  be 
used  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  intended 
and  for  no  other.  The  child  should  always  have,  in 
addition,  an  ordinary  set  of  plain  building  blocks, 
with  which  he  can  play  in  any  way  he  pleases,  and 
if  he  begins  to  "make  houses,"  etc.,  with  his  Mon- 
tessori blocks,  his  little  mind,  incapable  of  more 
than  one  idea  at  a  time,  should  be  redirected  to  the 
regular  exercise  involving  the  dimensions  of  these 

blocks. 

EXERCISE  SIX 

THE  LONG  STAIR. — After  the  Tower  and  the 
Stair  comes  the  third  set  of  blocks,  or  rods,  called 
the  Long  Stair.  This  is  the  most  important  of  the 
three  sets,  as  it  is  the  foundation  for  instruction 
in  arithmetic.  With  this  set  of  short  rectangular 
rods,  the  child  learns,  as  he  grows  older,  a  number 
of  the  simpler  processes  of  numeration.  At  first 
they  are  presented  to  the  child  just  as  a  series  of 
rods  differing  in  length,  the  smallest  one  being  one- 
tenth  of  the  length  of  the  longest  one.  The  mother 
builds  up  the  series,  having  the  child  notice  that 
all  the  rods  are  red  on  one  end,  and  that  the  stairs 


46  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

have  a  regular  number  of  red  and  blue  spaces  from 
one  to  ten,  or  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the 
stairs.     Then  the  series  is  knocked  over,  the  rods 
mixed  up,  and  the  child  left  to  put  it  together  again 
himself.     Children  who  cannot  definitely  count  can 
often  manage  this  series,  and  it  is  the  greatest  pleas- 
ure  for  the   child  who   has   just   learned   to   count 
to  be  able  to  verify  his  numbers  in  this   concrete 
way.    Tor  the  present,  this  is  all  that  is  done  with 
the   Long    Stair,   but   as   the   child   progresses   and 
develops,  it  will  be  found  one  of  the  most  valuable 
parts   of   the   apparatus,   because   the   rods   can   be 
combined  in  many  different  ways,  and  illustrate  in 
the  plainest  and  most  unmistakable   manner  many 
of  the  simpler  processes   of  mathematics — addition, 
subtraction,  etc.    But  this  all  comes  later,  and  after 
the  child  has  mastered  other  of  the  apparatus.    Per- 
haps the  mother  will  ask  why  Dr.  Montessori  uses 
ten  blocks  for  each  series,  or,  in  short,  what  is  the 
reason  for  these  series.     The  child  learns  by  com- 
parisons,  contrasts   and   classifications,   just   as   the 
adult  does.     It  is  much  easier  for  him  to  compre- 
hend the  different  dimensions  when  he  has  the  means 
of  comparing  blocks  with  others  which  vary  in  size. 
In  short,  the  child  understands  the  relation  between 
the  different  blocks  when  presented  in  this  manner. 
ORDER  OF  EXERCISES  TO  BE  MODIFIED  ACCORDING 
TO  CIRCUMSTANCES. — It  is  not  desirable  that  we  give 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  47 

directions  for  the  exact  use  and  the  order  of  suc- 
cession of  the  remainder  of  the  apparatus.  Chil- 
dren differ  so  widely  that  the  mother  will  be  forced 
to  depend  somewhat  on  her  own  judgment  and  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  child.  She  will  have  grasped 
by  this  time  the  purpose  of  the  exercises  with  the 
Montessori  apparatus,  which  is  to  give  the  child 
the  fullest  possible  control  over  Ms  own  body  and 
will-power.  The  order  of  exercises  as  hereafter 
indicated  is  to  be  followed  with  any  ordinary  child, 
but  this  must  be  modified  according  to  circumstances. 

EXERCISE  SEVEN 
DEVELOPING    THE    SENSE    OF    TOUCH 

SANDPAPER  BOARD  NUMBER  ONE. — As  a  rule,  the 
next  piece  of  apparatus  to  be  taken  up  is  the  Sand- 
paper Board,  a  small  board,  one-half  of  which  is 
smooth  and  the  other  half  covered  with  sandpaper. 
This  fixes  the  child's  attention  on  the  difference 
between  surfaces.  Sometimes  this  is  one  of  the  very 
first  apparatus  to  be  used,  as  a  distinction  between 
rough  and  smooth  is  apt  to  be  one  which  arouses 
the  interest  of  a  very  little  child.  His  mother  takes 
the  board  in  her  lap,  or  lays  it  on  the  child's 
small  table,  and  draws  the  little  finger-tips  over  the 
smoothly  planed  board,  saying  at  the  same  time, 
" smooth,  smooth."  Then  she  draws  the  finger-tips 


48  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

(always  from  left  to  right)  over  the  rough  sand- 
paper, saying,  " rough,  rough."  The  child  very  soon 
associates  the  sound  with  the  sensation,  to  which 
his  finger-tips  are  more  alive  than  are  deadened 
adult  fingers,  and  says  himself,  as  he  touches  the  two 
surfaces,  " smooth,  smooth — rough,  rough."  After 
this  distinction  has  been  thoroughly  learned  (it  may 
take  only  one  lesson,  or  it  may  take  two  or  three 
days),  it  is  a  good  plan  to  try  to  see  if  he  can  make 
the  distinction  accurately  when  he  is  not  looking  at 
the  board,  purely  by  the  sense  of  touch.  The  Italian 
children  are  always  blindfolded  for  this  exercise, 
and  seem  to  enjoy  it,  but  the  American  childrei 
with  whom  I  have  had  experience  have  prefer] 
merely  to  look  away,  up  at  the  ceiling.  The  finger- 
tips should  then  be  passed,  always  with  the  utmos 
delicacy  and  with  the  lightest  possible  touch,  ovei 
the  two  surfaces,  and  the  child  asked  to  give  the 
right  name  to  what  he  is  touching.  At  the  firsl 
sign  of  mental  fatigue  or  confusion,  this  exercise 
should  be  discontinued,  although  it  may  be  taken 
up  again  after  a  half -hour's  rest  and  change  of 
occupation.  The  child's  fingers  should  always  be 
trained  from  left  to  right.  If  the  child  from  the 
very  beginning  is  directed  to  trace  from  left  to 
right,  he  has  effected  the  first  simple  muscular 
co-ordination  that  he  will  use  a  little  later  in  writ- 
ing, as  we  always  write  from  left  to  right.  In  al 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  49 

probability,  the  child  will  enjoy  touching  the  smooth 
surface  very  much,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  the 
change  of  expression  on  his  face  as  he  changes  from 
the  smooth  to  the  rough. 

EXERCISE  EIGHT 

SANDPAPER  BOARD  NUMBER  Two. — When  this 
simpler  of  the  sandpaper  boards  has  been  mastered, 
the  child  may  go  to  the  next  form,  in  which  the 
sandpaper  is  arranged  in  alternate  strips  on  the 
smoothly  planed  board.  This  is,  of  course,  more 
complicated,  and  the  blindfolded  child  •  may  soon 
"lose  his  head"  and  not  be  able  to  distinguish  accu- 
rately between  the  sensations.  He  should  be  encour- 
aged to  take  plenty  of  time,  and  to  allow  his  finger- 
tips to  play  freely  across  the  surface.  When  he 
can  tell  quickly,  accurately,  and  without  mental 
fatigue,  whether  he  is  touching  a  rough  or  smooth 
strip,  the  beginning  of  the  child's  education  of  his 
tactile  sense  is  well  made.  He  has  taken  the  first 
step,  which  counts  so  much,  and  will  go  on  steadily 
to  more  complicated  conquests.  In  this  exercise, 
the  child  is  also  learning  to  follow  a  raised  surface 
with  his  little  fingers.  This  is  of  great  value  to 
him  as  a  preliminary  to  the  sandpaper  letters.  After 
he  has  mastered  this  simple  exercise,  he  has  one  of 
the  first  requisites  necessary  for  successful  work 
with  the  sandpaper  letters. 


50  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

EXERCISE  NINE 

FOR      THE     FURTHER     DEVELOPMENT      OF      THE      CHILD'S 

TACTILE    SENSE 

In  the  formal  Montessori  apparatus,  the  small 
cabinet  containing  seven  drawers  is  filled  with 
various  fabrics.  These  fabrics  consist  of  two  pieces 
of  the  following  materials:  velvet,  silk,  wool,  fine 
and  coarse  linen,  and  fine  and  coarse  cotton.  It  is 
very  important  that  absolutely  pure  fabrics  should 
be  used  for  these  first  exercises ;  in  short,  the  mother 
should  be  quite  sure  that  the  linen  she  is  using  is 
not  partly  cotton.  Of  course,  if  the  regular  Mon- 
tessori apparatus  is  used,  all  of  these  precautions 
are  provided  for.  These  can  be  supplemented  by 
any  ragbag,  and  from  the  infinitely  diversified  fab- 
rics used  in  the  furnishing  of  any  home.  When 
this  "playing"  with  fabrics  is  first  begun,  the  child 
is  allowed  to  handle  the  different  pieces  of  cloth, 
and  his  attention  is  called  to  the  difference  in  their 
texture.  He  is  told  their  names,  one  or  two  at  a 
time,  the  mother  taking  the  greatest  pains  to  pro- 
nounce the  words  clearly,  distinctly,  and  SLOWLY. 
When  he  has  learned  to  distinguish  them  by  look- 
ing at  them,  the  next  step,  as  with  the  sandpaper 
boards,  is  to  distinguish  them  by  the  sense  of  touch 
only.  The  child  can  be  blindfolded,  or  can  look 
up  at  the  ceiling,  and,  sitting  in  front  of  a  mixed-up 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  51 

pile  of  the  pieces,  takes  them  up  one  at  a  time,  pro- 
nouncing their  names.  When  he  has  done  this 
enough  times  so  that  he  is  quite  sure  of  himself 
(usually  after  a  week  of  playing  with  the  pieces 
at  intervals),  he  can  go  on  to  some  of  the  fascinating 
" games"  to  be  played  with  them.  If  there  are  other 
children  in  the  family,  the  playing  of  " games"  is 
easier,  but  even  for  an  only  child  they  are  possible. 

SUPPLEMENTARY  EXERCISES  AND  GAMES  INVOLV- 
ING THE  SENSE  OF  TOUCH. — First. — The  pieces  are 
divided  into  tAVO  piles,  each  having  the  same  number 
of  pieces  of  the  same  fabrics.  Then  the  mother 
picks  out  a  piece  of  velvet,  without  naming  it,  asks 
the  child  if  he  can  find  a  piece  like  it  in  his  pile 
(of  course,  without  looking).  This  is  always  pro- 
ductive of  much  excited  fumbling  in  the  pieces,  and 
much  delicate  fingering  of  them  by  sensitive  little 
finger-tips,  and  finally  much  triumph  when  the 
matching  bit  of  velvet  is  discovered.  It  may  be 
said  in  passing  that  it  is  usually  well  to  begin  with 
either  velvet  or  silk,  as  those  fabrics  are  so  markedly 
different  from  others  that  the  problem  is  easier  for 
a  beginner.  If  two  children  play  this  "game,"  the 
victor  is  the  one  who  first  finds  the  piece  of  velvet 
without  looking  at  his  pile. 

Second. — The  mother's  ingenuity  can  devise  many 
other  variations  on  this  game,  and  can  see  to  it 
that  the  child  goes  on  observing  the  fabrics  used  in 


52  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

different  parts  of  the  house,  the  materials  of  which 
his  own  dresses  are  made,  the  stuff  used  in  uphol- 
stery, table  linen,  curtains,  etc.  He  can  also  be 
told  the  names  of  the  different  materials  used  in 
building  a  house — wood,  iron,  tin,  glass,  stone,  and 
brick;  and  the  materials  of  cooking  utensils — china, 
tin,  copper,  etc.  There  is  an  infinite  variety  of 
material  in  the  humblest  home  which  can  be  the 
most  valuable  educational  apparatus  for  the  well- 
trained  child,  even  in  quite  early  childhood.  Once 
the  child's  interest  in  this  problem  is  aroused,  he 
will  in  most  cases  go  on  educating  himself,  and  all 
the  parent  needs  to  do  is  to  have  the  patience 
necessary  to  answer  innumerable  questions. 

Third. — Games  with  Balls,  Squares,  Triangles, 
etc. — Another  "game"  for  developing  the  sense  of 
touch  with  materials  other  than  fabrics  is  played 
in  the  Casa  dei  Bambini  with  solid  wooden  geo- 
metric forms  of  differing  shapes — balls,  squares, 
triangles,  etc.  The  child  is  blindfolded,  and  pulls 
these  things,  one  at  a  time,  out  of  a  bag,  identifying 
them  solely  by  fingering  them  over.  In  the  home 
this  can  be  "played"  with  any  material  at  hand 
with  which  the  child  is  familiar.  He  can  be  blind- 
folded and  try  to  identify  objects  in  a  miscellaneous 
heap  on  the  table  before  him,  consisting  of  toy 
animals,  spoons,  forks,  brushes,  combs,  dolls,  trays — 
anything  in  the  room  which  will  not  hurt  him,  and 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  53 

is  not  breakable.  Very  little  children  always  expe- 
rience the  greatest  joy  in  thus  proving  that  they 
can  see  "with  their  fingers,"  and  learn  to  receive 
extremely  accurate  impressions  through  their  sensi- 
tive and  cultivated  little  finger-tips. 

EXERCISE  TEN 
TRAINING    THE    SENSE    OF    HEARING 

SOUND  BOXES. — But  the  sense  of  touch  is  not 
the  only  one  of  the  child's  five  senses  which  can 
be  improved  by  direct  training.  The  sense  of  hear- 
ing is  greatly  developed  and  made  more  serviceable 
for  after  years,  if  given  reasonable  practice.  The 
Montessori  apparatus  provides  the  wooden  Sound 
Boxes,  filled  with  different  substances — sand,  gravel, 
flaxseed,  stones,  etc.,  which  give  out  sounds  differing 
in  quality  and  loudness,  when  shaken.  The  child's 
attention  can  be  thus  fixed,  for  the  first  time,  on 
a  definite  attempt  to  distinguish  between  loud  and 
low  noises,  as  he  shakes  these  little  boxes  close  to 
his  ear,  and  attempts  to  arrange  them  in  order 
according  to  their  degree  of  noise. 

In  all  probability,  the  child  has  heard  noises  of 
this  character,  but  he  has  not  had  an  opportunity 
to  compare  or  to  contrast  such  noises.  This  exercise 
affords  an  opportunity  for  such  discrimination.  As 
a  rule,  the  children  take  a  great  deal  of  interest 


54  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 


in  this  simple  exercise  and  they  show  a  marked 
difference  in  their  ability  to  discriminate  between 
the  various  substances. 

SUPPLEMENTARY  EXERCISES  AND  " GAMES." — But 
this  simple  exercise  needs  to  be  supplemented  by 
other  " games"  which  fix  the  attention  on  sounds. 
These  can  be  devised  most  easily  with  "  hide-and- 
seek"  games.  The  mother  hides  and  blows  very 
softly  a  little  horn,  by  means  of  which  the  child 
traces  her;  or  she  calls  the  child's  name  in  the 
lowest  possible  whispers,  as  he,  blindfolded,  tries 
to  locate  her  in  the  room  by  his  hearing.  Any  of 
the  common  children's  games,  "blindman's  buff," 
"  still-pond-no-more-moving,"  etc.,  played  with  a 
blindfold,  are  excellent  exercises  for  the  same  pur- 
pose of  sharpening  the  hearing  and  training  thq 
child  to  receive  accurate  impressions  through  his 
ears. 

Out  of  doors,  long-distance  calling  may  be  used 
for  this  purpose,  to  accustom  the  child  to  determine 
the  direction  from  which  any  noise  comes. 

As  to  musical  sounds,  most  children  who  are 
young  enough  for  this  Montessori  training  are  too 
young  to  distinguish  pitch  at  all  accurately.  Of 
music  they  receive  practically  nothing  but  rhythm, 
although  they  are  fond  of  marching  to  a  tune  which 
has  strongly  marked  time,  and  this  is  a  good  exer- 
cise for  them,  in  its  place. 


P(\ 


A  spontaneous 
writing  lesson.  These 
children  have  reach- 
ed the  point  where, 
as  Montessori  says, 
they  "explode  into 
writing." 


. 


Montessori  Long  Stair  Game 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  55 

EXERCISE  ELEVEN 

PREPARATORY    EXERCISE    FOR    TEACHING    THE    CHILD    TO 

WRITE 

PLANE  GEOMETRIC  INSETS. — Very  soon  after  the 
child's  first  introduction  to  the  Montessori  appa- 
ratus, he  can  begin  his  use  of  the  Plane  Geometric 
Insets.  These  sets  consist  of  a  six-drawer  cabinet, 
thirty-six  geometrical  insets,  and  a  pattern  in  an 
adjustable  frame,  making  possible  any  desired  com- 
bination of  forms.  The  insets  are  made  of  pieces  of 
smooth  wood,  painted  blue,  cut  in  different  shapes, 
and  with  a  little  knob-like  handle  in  the  center. 
These  insets  fit  into  holes  or  openings  cut  in  a 
rectangular  natural  colored  piece  of  wood.  The 
first  of  the  series  of  six  drawers  contains  insets  of 
strongly  contrasted  forms;  the  second  drawer  con- 
tains a  series  of  six  Polygons;  the  third  drawer,  a 
series  of  six  Circles,  diminishing  in  size;  the  fourth 
drawer,  a  series  of  Quadrilaterals  containing  one 
square  and  five  rectangles;  the  fifth  drawer,  a  series 
of  six  Triangles,  and  the  sixth  drawer  contains  Oval, 
Ellipse,  Flower  Forms,  etc.  These  are  so  important 
and  have  such  a  vital  part  to  play  in  the  training 
of  the  child  to  write,  that  the  mother  should  be 
especially  careful  in  the  way  they  are  used.  The 
entire  thirty-six  different  shapes  should  not,  of 
course,  be  put  before  the  child  at  the  beginning 


56  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

but  only  a  drawer  of  the  most  strongly  contrasted 
shapes — triangles,  oblong,  etc.  He  should  be  taught 
at  the  very  start  (as  in  the  case  of  the  solid  geo- 
metric insets)  to  aid  his  sight  by  touch.  While 
he  holds  the  inset  by  the  little  knob  with  his  left 
hand,  he  traces  the  outline  of  the  inset  with  his 
right  forefinger,  and  from  left  to  right,  or  in  the 
direction  in  which  writing  is  done.  Then,  while 
still  holding  the  inset,  he  traces  around  the  outline 
of  the  depression  into  which  he  thinks  the  inset  he 
holds  would  fit.  In  finding  the  right  opening,  he 
is  guided  more  by  his  finger-tips  than  by  his  eyes. 
It  is  quite  important  to  establish  this  habit  of  tra- 
cing the  outline  with  his  fingers,  as  it  has  a  vital 
bearing  on  learning  to  write. 

As  the  child  masters  the  tray  of  the  more  simple 
forms  so  that  he  finds  it  easy  for  him  to  place  the 
insets  in  the  corresponding  opening,  the  less  simple 
forms  should  be  given  him,  a  few  at  a  time.  After 
learning  to  distinguish  between  a  triangle  and  a 
circle  quickly  and  accurately,  the  next  day  he  should 
be  given  two  triangles  and  two  circles  of  different 
sizes,  to  sharpen  his  sense  of  shape  and  dimension. 
After  a  time,  usually  a  fortnight  or  so,  he  should 
be  able  to  replace  in  the  correct  openings  six  tri- 
angles of  differing  shapes,  and  six  circles  of  differ- 
ing sizes.  When  he  has  learned  to  do  that,  he  has 
attained  a  mastery  of  his  little  brain  and  a  capacit; 


• 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  57 

to  make  it  work  accurately,   of  which  Ms  mother 
may  well  be  proud. 

It  is  perhaps  well  to  give  here  the  warning  which 
can  never  be  too  often  sounded — not  to  force  the 
child's  attention  to  this,  any  more  than  to  any  other 
problem.  He  is  the  best  judge  of  when  mental 
fatigue  sets  in,  and  at  the  least  sign  of  inattention, 
the  tray  of  insets  should  be  put  away  and  some 
romping  game  outdoors  played,  or  a  quiet  story  told. 
The  mother  is  so  apt  to  become  fascinated  with  the 
rapid  advance  of  the  child's  mentality  that  she 
can  hardly  forbear  urging  him  a  trifle  to  go  a  step 
or  so  beyond  his  natural  inclination. 

EXERCISE   TWELVE 
REPLACING    THE    INSETS     BLINDFOLDED 

When  the  insets  have  become  old  friends,  it  is 
well  to  try  blindfolding  the  child,  and  setting  him 
the  new  problem  of  replacing  the  geometric  forms 
by  the  sense  of  touch  only.  Here  it  is  well  to  go 
back  again  to  first  principles  and  to  begin  once 
more  with  the  easiest  forms,  until  he  grows  accus- 
tomed to  depending  on  his  touch  only.  This  is 
splendid  practice,  and  a  child  who  has  had  it  grows 
astonishingly  keen  in  his  capacity  to  take  in  accu- 
rate impressions  from  his  finger-tips.  How  valuable 
the  ability  to  work  without  looking  at  what  is 


58  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

being  done,  can  be  estimated  from  the  experience 
of  almost  any  variety  of  hand-worker.  The  old 
grandmother  who  knits  without  once  looking  at  her 
needle  can  work  all  day  long  without  a  particle  of 
fatigue,  while  the  knitter  who  needs  to  be  verifying 
each  stitch  by  her  eyes  soon  tires  them  out  and 
must  either  stop  working  or  suffer  a  violent  head- 
ache. The  stenographer  who  writes  by  touch  has 
a  tremendous  advantage  over  the  other  who  needs 
to  use  her  eyes.  A  large  part  of  our  modern  eye- 
strain  and  nervous  headaches,  and  even  nervous 
prostration,  comes,  so  the  doctors  say,  from  the 
constant  use  of  the  eyes  in  processes  which  might 
be  cared  for  by  the  other  senses,  if  they  were  only 
well  trained.  So  that  the  Montessori  child,  learning 
to  distinguish  between  his  insets  without  looking  at 
them,  is  learning  a  mental  habit  which  will  be  of 
incalculable  benefit  to  him  throughout  life. 

Dr.  Montessori  lays  great  stress  upon  the  value 
of  the  work  with  these  wooden  geometric  insets. 
They  are  so  practical  and  at  the  same  time  so  fas- 
cinating that  the  child  learns  a  great  deal  in  work- 
ing with  them.  The  primary  object  is  that  the 
child  should  learn  form;  that  is,  that  he  should 
see  the  difference  between  various  objects.  Ordi- 
narily, this  is  a  very  tedious  task  for  the  child, 
but  Dr.  Montessori,  by  means  of  her  self -correcting 
apparatus,  has  made  a  game  that  appeals  to  normal 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  59 

children.  The  mother  should  not  be  at  all  surprised 
if  after  a  few  weeks  of  play  with  this  apparatus 
the  child  should  begin  to  point  out  various  objects 
in  his  environment,  comparing  them  with  certain 
insets  he  has  learned  to  know.  These  exercises 
are  very  important.  The  mother  should  take  the 
care  and  the  time  that  may  be  necessary  for  the 
child  to  reap  the  greatest  benefits  from  the  work. 

EXEECISE    THIETEEN 

WITH    WHICH    THE    CHILD'S    COMPREHENSION    PASSES 

FROM  SOLID  OBJECTS  TO  THE  PLANE  LINE,  FROM 

THE  CONCRETE  TO  THE  ABSTRACT 

PLANE  GEOMETRIC  FIGURES  EEPRODUCED  IN  THREE 
SERIES  OF  CARDS. — After  the  final  mastery  of  the 
geometric  insets,  the  child  is  given  a  series  of  cards, 
representing  the  same  forms  as  those  of  his  insets. 
In  the  first  of  these  three  series,  the  forms  are  cut 
out  of  solid  blue  paper  and  mounted  on  white  cards; 
in  the  second,  the  forms  are  cut  out  of  heavy  line 
drawings  and  mounted  on  the  cards,  and  in  the 
third,  the  outline  or  form  is  represented  only  by 
a  thin  blue  line,  such  as  is  drawn  by  any  pencil. 

The  child  mixes  up,  say,  six  or  eight  of  these 
cards,  and  six  or  eight  corresponding  insets,  and 
then  sets  himself  the  task  of  putting  the  insets  on 
the  corresponding  card.  Here  he  has  not  the  sense 


60  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

of  touch  to  guide  him,  and  learns  gradually  the 
meaning  of  the  line,  passing  from  the  solid  blue 
form  to  the  form  merely  drawn  in  outline. 

After  the  child  has  played  with  these  various 
cards  for  some  time  he  will  have  acquired  a  very 
definite  idea  of  symbolism.  That  is,  it  will  be  com- 
paratively easy  for  him  to  understand  how  a  series 
of  lines  can  stand  for  an  object.  Ordinarily,  it  is 
not  difficult  for  the  child  to  see  the  connection 
between  a  photograph  and  an  object,  but  with  an 
abstract  line  it  is  entirely  different.  What  is  there 
in  the  symbols  c-a-t  that  would  connect  them  with 
a  cat  ?  Dr.  Montessori  believes  that  the  child 
should  understand  symbolism  before  the  alphabet 
is  taken  up.  When  the  child  has  mastered  all  of 
the  various  exercises  with  these  geometric  cards, 
and  thus  gained  a  definite  understanding  of  sym- 
bolism, it  will  be  comparatively  easy  for  him  to 
get  the  relation  between  a  written  word  and  the 
object  which  that  word  represents.  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori at  all  times  goes  from  the  simple  to  the 
complex,  from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract.  With 
this  simple  explanation  I  trust  the  mother  will 
understand  the  significance  of  these  exercises. 


USE  OP  THE  APPARATUS  61 

EXERCISE  FOURTEEN 

INVOLVING  THE  FIRST  USE  OF  THE  PENCIL 
PLANE  GEOMETRICAL  INSETS  MADE  IN  METAL. — 
And  with  this  recognition  of  the  line,  might  go 
very  well  with  the  average  child  the  beginning  of 
the  use  of  the  pencil.  This  exercise  is  done  with 
the  Plane  Geometric  Insets  made  of  metal. 
Accompanying  the  metal  insets  in  the  formal 
Montessori  apparatus  are  two  wooden  trays  with 
sloping  tops,  large  enough  to  hold  three  of  the 
metal  insets  and  intended  to  be  placed  by  the 
child  on  his  own  table.  It  is,  of  course,  unnec- 
essary to  point  out  that  a  small  table  and  chair, 
just  the  right  size  for  a  child,  are  essentials  in 
Montessori  or  any  other  right  training  for  child- 
hood. The  child  puts  a  piece  of  white  paper  on 
the  wooden  tray  or  on  his  own  table,  then  places 
the  square  inset  over  the  paper  and  lifts  out  the 
central  piece  by  its  little  knob.  The  white  paper 
shows  through  the  hole  (see  x  in  illustration)  in 
the  shape  of  the  inset.  The  child  is  given  a 
pencil  and  is  shown,  once,  very  briefly  and  simply, 
how  to  hold  it  and  how  to  trace  around  the  out- 
line of  the  inset.  He  is  apt  to  make  bad  work 
of  this  at  first,  as  this  is  the  very  first  use  of 
the  pencil,  but  his  interest  almost  certainly  carries 
him  through  the  first  difficulties.  To  begin  with 


62  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

he  simply  traces  the  outline,  lifts  off  the  metal 
inset  and  admires  the  design  on  the  paper 
beneath.  The  metal  edge  of  the  inset  is  a  guide 
to  his  staggering  little  pencil  and  before  long  he 
will  be  able  to  make  a  good,  clear  outline,  join- 
ing the  ends  neatly. 


EXERCISE  FIFTEEN 


THE    USE    OF     COLORED    CRAYONS 

FIRST  LESSON  IN  DRAWING. — When  this  has 
been  accomplished  the  child  is  furnished  with  a 
box  of  colored  crayons,  and  invited  to  fill  in  the 
"  picture''  he  has  made  with  strokes  of  his 
crayon.  The  fact  that  he  is  working  in  color 
stimulates  his  interest,  and  few  children  need 
more  spur  to  advance  than  the  simple  permission 
to  use  the  crayons.  At  first,  and  for  many  days, 
his  efforts  to  fill  in  the  outlines  will  be  ludicrous 
in  their  inaccuracy.  He  should  not  be  corrected, 
and  should  be  allowed  to  pass  from  one  form  to 
another  as  often  as  he  pleases,  being  supplied 
with  an  unlimited  amount  of  paper  and  leisure 
for  this  new  undertaking.  Little  by  little,  as  he 
works  at  this  accomplishment,  along  with  other 
Montessori  " games"  he  begins  to  "get  the  hang 
of  it,"  in  our  vernacular  phrase.  The  lines 
become  more  and  more  parallel,  fewer  and  fewer 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  63 

go  wildly  outside  the  line  enclosing  the  outline, 
and  finally  the  geometric  form  is  shown  in  color 
on  the  white  paper  almost  as  though  it  had  been 
printed.  This  advance  is  not  rapid,  however,  in 
the  case  of  most  children,  and  nothing  should  be 
done  to  hurry  it.  Occasionally  a  child  gets  tired 
of  the  whole  process  and  will  play  with  other 
things  for  several  days  without  recurring  to  his 
4 'drawing,"  although  on  the  other  hand,  some  chil- 
dren are,  from  the  first,  so  fascinated  by  the  prob- 
lem that  they  can  hardly  let  it  alone.  These 
exercises  afford  the  first  direct  preparation  for 
writing  and  design.  From  the  very  beginning 
the  child  acquires  a  free,  easy  muscular  move- 
ment. After  these  exercises  the  work  of  free 
designing  with  crayons  and  water  colors  may  be 
successfully  taken  up. 

Meal-times  and  Nap-times  Not  to  Be  Inter- 
fered With. — The  child  should  be  allowed  to 
choose  his  own  time  for  working  at  this  (pro- 
vided, of  course,  that  it  does  not  interfere  with 
some  necessary  regulations  of  the  household,  meal- 
times or  nap-times)  and  to  spend  as  much  or  as 
little  time  over  it  as  he  wishes,  although  if  there 
seems  any  likelihood  that  he  has  really  forgotten 
it,  his  attention  may  be  called  to  it  again. 


64  THE  MONTESSOEI  MANUAL 

EXERCISE  SIXTEEN 

> 

TRAINING    THE    EYE;     THE    MATCHING    OF    COLORS 

COLOR  BOXES  AND  COLOR  "GAMES/'— At  about 
the  same  stage  of  development  that  the  geometric 
insets  are  first  given  to  a  child,  the  color  boxes 
can  be  shown  him  and  the  color  " games"  begun. 
The  color  boxes  are  sets  of  spools,  wound  with 
silk  of  varying  shades,  eight  of  the  main  colors, 
and  eight  shades  of  each.  At  first  the  child  is 
shown  only  two  strongly  contrasting  colors,  red 
and  blue,  for  instance.  The  name  is  pronounced 
clearly  and  distinctly,  holding  up  the  correspond- 
ing color.  When  the  child  has  grasped  this  the 
colors  are  allowed  to  lie  on  the  table  and  the 
mother  says,  "Give  me  red,"  or  "Give  me  blue." 
When  the  child  has  progressed  this  far  (this  may 
be  the  next  day,  or  even  two  or  three  days  after 
the  first  introduction)  the  teacher  or  mother  holds 
up  a  spool  and  asks,  "What  is  this?"  When  the 
child  can  answer  correctly,  "blue"  or  "red,"  he 
has  thoroughly  learned  those  two  colors  and  can 
progress  to  another  one.  When  the  eight  main 
colors  have  been  learned  in  this  way,  the  child 
can  begin  to  match  them.  Four  spools  are  laid 
on  the  table,  two  red  and  two  blue  (of  course  of 
exactly  the  same  shade).  The  child  picks  out  the 
two  red  ones  and  lays  them  side  by  side,  and  then 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  65 

does  the  same  for  the  blue.  From  this  he  can  go 
by  degrees  until  there  are  sixteen  spools  on  the 
table,  eight  pairs,  which  he  must  put  together. 
This  is  a  "game"  which  seldom  ever  fails  to 
arouse  the  interest  and  attention  of  the  most 
lethargic  child.  And  this  also  soon  shows  the 
mother  if  there  is  any  color-blindness  present. 

EXERCISE  SEVENTEEN 

v 

DIFFERENTIATION  OF  COLOES. — After  the  match- 
ing has  been  mastered,  the  next  step  is  to  differ- 
entiate between  light  and  dark  shades  of  the  same 
color,  dark  red  and  light  pink,  for  instance,  or 
dark  and  light  blue.  This  goes  in  pairs  at  first 
also,  but  little  by  little,  as  the  child's  accuracy 
increases,  he  may  go  up  to  the  eight  shades  of 
the  different  colors.  As  a  rule,  children  acquire 
an  appreciation  and  accuracy  in  handling  colors 
which  astonishes  their  ill-trained  elders.  Some 
Montessori  children  have  become  so  proficient  that 
they  can  "carry  a  color  in  the  eye,"  as  it  is 
called.  That  is,  they  can  look  at  a  spool  of  a 
certain  shade  of  purple,  go  across  the  room  to  a 
pile  of  spools  and  pick  out  the  color  matching  it. 
This  is  a  feat  of  which  few  elders  would  be 
capable. 

GAMES  AND  PRACTICAL  APPLICATION. — With  these 
color  spools,  a  variety  of  "games"  can  be 


66  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

played,  which  any  mother  can  invent,  according 
to  the  number  and  age  of  the  children  wishing 
to  play.  They  are  all  variations  on  the  principle 
which  is  used  in  the  game  of  " authors,"  and  can 
be  made  simple  or  hard  as  circumstances  direct. 
Furthermore,  as  in  the  treatment  of  fabrics,  the 
child's  attention  is  awakened  to  the  presence  of 
color  in  everything  about  him,  and  his  interest 
aroused  in  the  problem  of  determining  the  color 
of  the  carpets,  curtains,  dresses,  carriages,  shoes, 
etc.,  which  he  sees  in  his  every-day  life.  In  my 
own  family,  a  child  of  three-and-a-half  came  to 
me  the  other  day  saying,  "I've  been  looking 
around  and  I  can  tell  -the  color  of  everything  in 
this  room,  except  the  looking-glass,  and  I  cannot 
tell  the  color  of  that!" 

The  reason  that  Dr.  Montessori  uses  these 
little  spools  upon  which  the  silk  is  wound  is  that 
the  child's  attention  is  primarily  directed  to  the 
color  and  not  to  the  object.  The  spools  in  them- 
selves are  very  unattractive  while  the  richly  col- 
ored silk  is  just  the  opposite.  Silk  thread  is  used 
because  it  gives  a  deeper,  richer  color,  at  the  same 
time  is  more  practical  and  makes  possible  the 
various  gradations.  Too  much  importance  can- 
not be  placed  upon  the  developing  of  the  chro- 
matic sense  in  early  childhood.  If  the  child  at  an 
early  age  acquires  a  deep  interest  in  shades  and 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  67 

tints  of  colorings,  he  will  not  only  be  able  to 
appreciate  his  environment  much  more,  but  this 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  color  will  be  of 
inestimable  value  to  him  in  later  years.  The 
ethical  element  in  such  training  is  also  very 
important.  If  the  child  is  taught  to  see  the 
beautiful  and  to  appreciate  it  even  in  his  early 
years  it  must  have  a  marked  effect  upon  his  later 
life.  Psychologists  tell  us  that  we  are  the  crea- 
tures of  habit  and  it  is  only  reasonable  to  believe 
that  if  these  very  desirable  habits  can  be  formed 
in  early  childhood  they  must  be  very  beneficial 
\vhen  the  child  reaches  maturity. 

EXERCISE   EIGHTEEN 

SPECIAL     PHYSICAL     AND     GYMNASTIC     EXERCISES    FOR 
THE    YOUNG    CHILD 

In  connection  with  all  these  exercises  with  the 
Montessori  apparatus  there  are  a  number  of  other 
exercises,  chiefly  gymnastic,  which  should  be  con- 
stantly in  use.  As  soon  as  the  child  can  walk 
at  all,  every  effort  should  be  made  to  teach  him 
further  and  more  definitely  the  art  of  equilib- 
rium of  his  body.  When  we  walk  we  continually 
balance  our  weight  so  that  we  do  not  fall  down, 
and  the  more  accurately  and  unconsciously  we  do 
this,  the  better  we  walk.  Now,  bodily  poise  is 


68  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

one  of  the  very  important  factors  in  bodily  grace 
and  even  in  strength,  certainly  in  comfort.  The 
average  child  does  not  balance  his  body  well, 
instinctively.  He  needs  training,  and  he  is  eager 
and  anxious  for  it. 

1.  THE  CHALK  LINE  EXERCISE. — In  the  Casa  dei 
Bambini     the     exercise     used     for     this     need     is 
arranged   very   simply   by   means   of   a   long   chalk 
line  drawn  on  the  floor.     The  children  are  invited 
to   see   how   accurately   they   can   walk   along   this 
line  without  stepping   off.     At  first  the   little  tots 
cannot   manage    this   at   all.     Later   they   learn   to 
walk  very  slowly   along  the   line,   and  later,   when 
they  are  four  or  five,  to   run  as  swiftly  as   deer 
along  this  line  without  swerving  once  from  it.     A 
child  who  can  do  that  will  be  able,  unconsciously, 
to  walk  straight  across  a   room  to   a   chair,   with- 
out  tripping   or   falling   over   the   furniture. 

2.  WALKING   THE   TWO-BY-FOUR. — A   modification 
of  this  exercise  can  be  arranged  out-of-doors  by  lay- 
ing a  long  piece  of  wood   (what  is  usually  known 
as    a    " two-by-four"    or    a    "piece    of    studding") 
down  on  the   ground  and  permitting  the   child  to 
try   to    walk    along   this    without    falling   off.     He 
is    usually    ready    to    spend    a    long    time    at    this 
exercise,  and  to  return  to  it  repeatedly.    The  bene- 
fit  derived   from  it  is  beyond  calculating. 

3.  EOPE-BALANCING   AND   WALKING   BACKWARD. — 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  69 

If  a  length  of  rope  can  be  hung  up  where  the 
child  can  reach  the  dangling  end  of  it  he  will 
devise  for  himself  a  variety  of  exercises  in  bal- 
ancing which  will  greatly  increase  his  mastery  of 
his  body.  Another  exercise  of  great  value  for 
little  children,  is  in  walking  backward.  At  first 
they  need  to  be  helped,  for  their  little  brains  are 
so  unused  to  reversing  the  processes  of  ordinary 
walking  that  they  are  quite  helpless,  but  after  a 
comparatively  short  time,  they  learn  this  new 
trick  and  practice  it  with  delight.  If  possible 
every  small  child  should  have  a  little  swing,  just 
the  right  height  for  him,  and  a  tiny  spring- 
board ending  over  a  pile  of  hay  or  anything  soft, 
from  which  he  may  jump  and  learn  to  balance 
his  body  in  the  air.  He  should  also  be  encour- 
aged to  jump,  not  from  stairs  or  any  other  ele- 
vation, for  that  means  danger  to  the  spine,  but 
from  one  rug  to  another,  for  instance.  It  is  sur- 
prising what  advances  in  physical  strength  and 
mastery  of  his  muscles  is  made  by  a  child  who  is 
provided  with  such  exercises. 

4.  THE  BABY  BALL. — Most  children  of  three  are 
too  young  to  have  the  least  capacity  for  throw- 
ing or  catching  a  ball,  but  if  a  ball  is  hung  on  a 
long  string  and  tossed  to  them,  the  string  retards 
the  motion  just  enough  to  make  it  possible  for 
their  little  brains  to  set  their  muscles  in  action, 


70  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

and  they  will  play  with  great  joy  and  profit  for 
a  long  time,  at  this  variety  of  "babyball." 

5.  WATER    PLAY. — One    exercise,    which    always 
delights  children,  and  improves  their  table-manners 
insensibly,    is    playing    with    water.      This,    too,    is 
rather     hard     to     manage     indoors,     although     not 
impossible.      The    child    is    furnished   with    a    basin 
of  water,   a  big  spoon,   and  receptacles   of  various 
sizes   and  shapes  to  fill;    bottles,   large   and  small; 
glasses,   cups,   salt-cellars,   etc.     He   is   almost   sure 
to  spend  much  time  happily  engaged  in  filling  up 
and  emptying  these   vessels,   and   learning   a    great 
deal  about  the  nature  of  water  contained  in  recep- 
tacles.     A    child    who   has    " played"    in    this   way 
with    water,    for    half    an    hour    a    day,    during    a 
month  or  two,  will  spill  water  from  his   glass   at 
table,   or  be  untidy  in  the  use   of  his   spoon,   ju§t 
as   infrequently   as   the    ordinary    adult.      (He    has 
learned  the  trick!     And  he  has  had  a   great  dei 
of  fun  while  he  learned  it).     His  mother  will  fin< 
that  he  takes  no  more  pleasure  in  being  "  messy 
over  his  meals  than  she   does,   and  as  soon  as  he 
is  able  to  avoid  accidents  at  table,  will  have  pre- 
sentable  table  manners. 

6.  ENCOURAGE  CHILD'S  INVENTIVENESS. — Of  course 
the    greatest    freedom    should   be    allowed    for    any 
exercise    (not    injurious    to    the    child)    which   his 
invention  hits  upon.     The  action  so  common  among 


.ao 

>al 

1! 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  71 

little  cMLdren  of  throwing  themselves  on  a  chair 
or  stool  and  kicking  their  swinging  feet  in  the  air 
is  an  excellent  exercise  for  the  muscles  of  the  legs 
and  should  never  be  discouraged.  To  climb  up  and 
down  a  short  length  of  ladder,  with  the  rounds 
set  at  a  distance  appropriate  for  short  legs,  is  also 
very  beneficial,  although  hard  to  arrange  for  the 
unfortunate  child  who  lives  in  a  flat,  without  access 
to  a  bit  of  out-doors  all  his  own. 

7.  SHOULD    SHAKE    HOUSEHOLD    WORK. — A    child 

who    is    being   trained    in    the    Montessori    system 

» 

should  also,  as  soon  as  it  is  at  all  possible,  begin 
to  share  in  the  work  of  the  household.  If  he  is 
provided  with  a  small  broom  and  dustpan,  there  is 
no  reason  why  he  should  not  keep  his  room  fresh 
and  clean,  and  also  clean  up  any  litter  of  paper  or 
dirt  which  he  makes  in  the  course  of  the  day. 
Setting  the  table  is  a  singularly  good  exercise  for 
a  little  child,  although,  of  course,  it  is  enough  to 
begin  with,  if  he  does  only  a  small  part  of  the 
whole  operation.  The  important  element  should  be 
that  what  he  does,  he  does  entirely  himself.  If 
he  is  set  to  put  a  spoon  at  each  place,  he  should 
be  left  (after  due  explanation,  as  brief  as  possible) 
to  wrestle  with  the  problem  and  to  solve  it  with 
his  own  unaided  invention.  Later  he  can  be  given 
all  the  silver  to  put  in  place,  and  as  he  learns  in 
his  Montessori  exercises,  mastery  over  his  muscles, 


72  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

can  be  entrusted  with  china  and  glass  at  four  and 
five  years  of  age,  which  an  untrained  child  of  ten 
or  eleven  would  be  almost  sure  to  break. 

Pains  should  be  taken  to  allow  even  the  very 
little  child  to  watch,  from  a  comfortable  position, 
any  household  operation  in  which  he  shows  interest. 
Fortunate,  indeed,  the  child  whose  mother  still 
cooks  and  sews  and  bakes  and  washes,  and  allows 
her  children  to  aid  in  these  processes.  Such  chil- 
dren receive  Montessori  training  without  any 
formal  apparatus. 

SUMMARY  OF  CHILD'S  ATTAINMENTS  IN  THE  MAS- 
TERY OF  HIMSELF  AND  His  WORLD. — But,  to  return 
to  those  formal  and  ingeniously  devised  "  play- 
things" which  so  wonderfully  and  insensibly  lead 
the  little  child  to  a  mastery  of  his  world  and  him- 
self, let  us  suppose  that  the  child  for  whom  the 
box  of  apparatus  came  into  the  home,  has  now 
been  " playing"  with  the  different  pieces  of  appa- 
ratus described  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  for 
about  three  or  four  months,  longer  if  he  was  only 
three  when  he  began,  a  shorter  time  if  he  was 
older.  He  has  learned  to  replace  the  geometric 
insets  blindfolded  by  the  sense  of  touch  only,  to 
distinguish  fabrics  and  materials,  to  build  the 
Tower,  the  Broad  Stair  and  the  Long  Stair,  to 
match  colors,  to  distinguish  between  noises  of  vary- 
ing intensity,  to  balance  himself  deftly,  to  manage 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  73 

a  glass  of  water.  His  mother  may  very  well  con- 
sider that  it  is  now  time  to  begin  to  teach  him  the 
beginning  of  reading  and  writing,  although,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  beginning  was  taught  when  he 
first  learned  the  distinction  between  rough  sand- 
paper and  smoothly  planed  board. 

EXERCISE  NINETEEN 
LEARNING    TO    WRITE    AT    THE    AGE    OF    FOUR 

SANDPAPER  LETTERS. — The  child  is  told  that 
there  is  a  new  game  to  play  and  the  little  paste- 
board box  containing  the  famous  Montessori  sand- 
paper letters  is  brought  out.  This  alphabet  is 
composed  of  letters  in  plain,  round  script,  cut  out 
of  black  sand,  or  emery,  paper  and  pasted  upon 
smooth  white  cards.  Here  at  once  the  child's  past 
practice  in  learning  about  objects  through  touch- 
ing them,  as  well  as  looking  at  them,  comes  into 
play.  He  is  shown  a  letter,  the  mother  pronounces 
the  sound  of  it  clearly,  and  shows  him  how  to 
trace  around  it  with  his  finger  in  the  way  one 
would  write  it.  He  should  touch  it  very  lightly, 
as  he  has  been  taught  to  do  with  all  his  work, 
and  should,  at  first,  only  trace  the  letters  when 
some  one  is  watching  him,  to  make  sure  he  does 
not  do  it  backward,  or  upsidedown.  Make  sure 
that  he  knows  the  vocal  sound  of  the  letter  or 


74  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

figure  lie  is  tracing.  Most  children  of  three-and- 
a-half  or  four  have  seen  so  much  of  writing 
among  the  adults  of  their  acquaintance  that  their 
curiosity  is  deeply  aroused  as  to  the  mysterious 
process  and  they  are  delighted  with  the  prospect 
of  learning  something  about  it.  They  need,  as  a 
rule,  no  further  incentive  than  the  statement  that 
this  is  the  beginning  of  their  learning  how  to 
write. 

Testing  the  Child's  Comprehension. — As  soon  as 
a  few  letters  are  learned,  the  teacher,  or  mother, 
should  make  sure  of  the  child's  grasp  of  them  in 
the  same  way  she  tested  his  knowledge  of  colors. 
She  lays  down  four  or  five  on  the  table  and  asks 
for  a  certain  one.  "Give  me  'a,'  please,"  or 
"Give  me  *b."  When  the  child  can  do  this 
quickly  and  surely,  she  next  holds  one  up  and 
asks  him  what  it  is.  When  he  can  identify  those 
first  letters  he  can  be  allowed  to  pass  on  to 
others,  and  as  the  number  even  in  our  alphabet  is 
quite  limited,  it  will  not  be  long  before  he  has 
mastered  all  the  letters. 

Begins  to  Recognise  and  Spell  Words. — Before 
that  time,  however,  if  his  interest  in  the  process 
is  lively,  he  can  begin  to  recognize  words,  and  to 
compose  them.  If  he  has  learned  "p"  and  "a" 
he  can  compose  the  familiar  word  "papa,"  and 
will,  in  most  cases,  do  this  of  his  own  accord  if 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  75 

his  attention  is  called  to  the  pronunciation  of  the 
word.  If  his  mother  says  "How  would  you  make 
this  word?"  and  then  pronounces  it  very  slowly, 
separating  the  sounds  distinctly,  the  child  will 
analyze  the  word  into  its  component  parts.  "It 
begins  with  *p,'  she  says,  giving  the  phonetic 
sound  and  not  the  name  of  the  letter.  Of  course 
the  child  reaches  instinctively  for  the  "p,"  and 
thereafter  recognizes  the  sound  of  "a,"  puts  the 
two  together  and  looks  on  delighted  at  the  first  word 
of  his  composition. 

EXERCISE  TWENTY 

LEARNING  TO  BEAD  THE  EEGULAR  MOVABLE 
ALPHABET. — At  this  point  the  child  should  be  pre- 
sented with  the  Regular  Movable  Alphabet  of  cut- 
out script  letters  in  stiff  paper. 

These  come  in  two  large,  flat,  pasteboard  boxes 
with  partitions  dividing  the  same  into  separate 
compartments  for  each  letter.  There  are  four  or 
five  duplicates  of  each  letter,  making  a  like  num- 
ber of  complete  alphabets  and,  of  course,  addi- 
tional letters  can  easily  be  made  at  home,  if  more 
are  needed.  These  letters  are  not  pasted  on  cards, 
like  the  sandpaper  letters,  and  are  easily  han- 
dled and  arranged  as  the  child  wishes,  and  with 
these  begin  his  composition  and  recognition  of 
words.  He  is  not  troubled,  as  in  the  old  system, 


76  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

by  the  difficulty  of  forming  the  letters,  as  all  he 
has  had  to  do  is  to  take  them  from  the  com- 
partments and  make  words  with  them,  long  before 
his  little  fingers  have  acquired  the  ability  to 
handle  a  pencil  surely  and  accurately. 

PRACTICE  WORDS. — Of  course  English-speaking 
children  have  a  much  harder  time  to  compose 
words  from  letters  than  Italian  children,  whose 
language  is  phonetically  written.  The  English- 
speaking  mother  who  attempts  to  teach  her  own 
child  how  to  write  and  read,  will  infallibly  become 
a  convert  to  the  ideas  of  the  Simple  Spelling 
Board;  but,  since  it  is  out  of  the  question 
the  present  to  change  the  wild  insanities  of  Enj 
lish  spelling,  we  must  possess  our  souls 
patience  and  exercise  as  much  ingenuity  as  po* 
sible  in  introducing  our  little  one  to  the  lif e-lo: 
burden  of  an  illogically  spelled  language.  It 
well  for  this  purpose  to  choose  for  the  first  wo] 
the  very  simplest  ones,  like  "rat,"  "pin,"  "hen, 
"mama,"  "papa,"  "dog,"  etc.,  words  which 
not  only  within  a  child's  natural  comprehensioi 
but  which  offer  no  difficulties  in  the  way  of  coi 
sistent  spelling.  When  the  inevitable  difficult^ 
occur,  the  best  that  can  be  done  is  to  rely  on  ti 
naturally  quick  memory  of  childhood,  and  to  fal 
back  on  the  helpless  statement  that  "it's  spelled 
that  way  because  that  is  the  way  it's  spelled.1 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  77 

However,  there  is,  even  in  English,  quite  a  vocab- 
ulary of  sensibly  spelled  words,  which  the  child 
can  acquire  as  a  working  beginning. 

EXERCISE  TWENTY-ONE 
REVIEW  EXERCISES  WITH  APPARATUS  ALREADY  MASTERED 

First. — But  although  he  may  from  now  on, 
"play"  with  the  movable  alphabet,  the  use  of  the 
sandpaper  letters  should  be  steadily  continued,  caus- 
ing him  to  trace  them,  as  they  are  written,  sev- 
eral times  a  day,  if  his  interest  allows.  It  is  almost 
certain  that  he  will  ask  to  do  this,  as  touching  the 
letters  brings  home  their  form  to  his  little  brain 
much  more  certainly  than  merely  looking  at  them. 
Sometimes  children  fail  to  recognize  a  letter  when 
they  look  at  it,  although  they  can  identify  it  per- 
fectly after  their  fingers  have  traced  it.  This,  being 
one  of  the  essential  steps  in  writing,  must  not  be 
neglected.  Children  in  Montessori  schools,  even 
after  they  can  write  quite  fluently,  very  frequently 
go  through  the  tracing  of  the  sandpaper  letters  to 
refresh  their  memories  with  an  exact  knowledge  o:£ 
the  shape  of  each  letter. 

Second. — At  the  same  time  that  these  exercises 
are  being  repeated  as  often  as  the  child's  interest 
makes  possible,  the  exercises  with  "  drawing," 
that  is,  tracing  the  outline  of  one  of  the 


78  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

geometric  insets  on  the  paper  and  filling  it  in  with 
colored  chalk,  should  also  be  steadily  continued,  for 
this  tracing  teaches  the  child  the  use  of  the  pencil. 
Third. — THE  EXPLOSION  INTO  WRITING. — I  quote 
from  A  M>ontessori  Mother  a  paragraph  descri- 
bing the  final  success  of  these  three  exercises,  "All 
these  processes  go  on,  day  after  day,  side  by 
side,  all  invisibly  converging  towards  one  end.  The 
practice  with  the  crayons,  the  recognition  of  the 
sandpaper  letters  by  eye  and  touch,  the  revelation 
as  to  the  formation  of  words  with  the  movable  alpha- 
bet, are  so  m'any  roads  leading  to  the  painless  acqui- 
sition of  the  art  of  writing.  They  draw  nearer  and 
nearer  together,  and  then  one  day,  quite  sud- 
denly, the  famous  "Montessori  explosion  into 
writing"  occurs.  The  teacher  of  experience  c 
tell  when  this  explosion  is  imminent.  Firs 
the  parallel  lines  which  the  child  makes  to  fill  an 
color  the  geometric  figures  become  singularly  ev 
and  regular;  second,  acquaintance  with  the  alpha 
becomes  so  thorough  that  he  recognizes  the  let 
by  sense  of  touch  only;  and,  third,  he  increases 
facility  for  composing  words  with  the  movable  alph 
bet.  The  burst  into  spontaneous  writing  usually  onl 
comes  after  these  three  conditions  are  present.  I 
is  to  be  noted  that  for  a  long  time  after  this  expl 
sion  into  writing,  the  children  continue  incessantly 
to  go  through  the  three  preparatory  steps,  tracin 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  79 

with  their  fingers  the  sandpaper  letters,  filling  in 
the  geometric  forms  and  composing  with  the  movable 
alphabet.  These  are  for  them  what  scales  are  for 
the  pianist,  a  necessary  practice  for  "  keeping  the 
hand  in." 

Fourth. — CAUTIONS  TO  BE  OBSERVED. — There  are 
several  cautions  to  be  expressed  about  this  whole 
process  of  teaching  a  child  to  write  and  read  by 
the  Montessori  method.  The  most  important  one  is 
against  hurry.  Even  more  consistently  and  steadily 
than  with  the  rest  of  the  apparatus,  the  child's 
natural  gait  ought  not  to  be  in  the  slightest  degree 
hastened  by  urging  from  outside.  He  will  go,  in 
any  case,  so  very  much  more  rapidly,  easily  and 
surely,  than  children  in  school,  that  urging  him  is 
not  necessary.  The  temptation  with  a  bright,  quickly 
adaptable  child  is  to  attempt  to  "make  a  record." 
The  mother  remembers  reading  that  in  Montessori 
schools  a  child  of  four  usually  learns  to  write  after 
about  six  weeks  of  preparation  and  that  children 
of  five  usually  spend  only  a  month  in  the  three 
exercises  before  they  begin  to  write;  and  she  is 
anxious  that  her  child  shall  not  fall  behind.  She 
should  bear  in  mind  two  or  three  factors  which 
make  her  problem  different  from  that  of  the  Casa 
dei  Bambini.  First,  the  Casa  dei  Bambini  child 
is  associated  with  other  children,  some  of  whom 
have  already  learned  to  write,  before  his  very  eyes. 


80  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

He  has  examples  and  stimulus  to  efforts  which  the 
single  American  child,  working  alone,  lacks,  in  the 
nature  of  things.  Furthermore,  the  Directress  of 
the  Montessori  Casa  dei  Bambini  was  specially 
trained  for  her  undertaking,  and  has  had  a  great 
deal  of  experience  with  all  sorts  of  children;  so 
that  she  is  at  an  advantage  compared  to  the  Ameri- 
can mother  taking  up  the  method  for  the  first  time, 
and  working  out  her  own  and  her  child's  problems. 
There  is  no  occasion  for  her  to  be  discouraged  by 
these  facts,  for  success  is  almost  sure,  if  she  perse- 
veres and  with  the  right  spirit.  The  mother  should 
always  act  deliberately,  she  should  take  the  greatest 
pains  to  be  sure  that  the  child  understands  every 
step  before  he  passes  on  to  the  next,  and  that  he 
has  thoroughly  mastered  one  process  before  he  is 
allowed  to  progress  to  another  more  complicated. 
Above  all,  she  should  refrain  from  forcing  the  child's 
attention  in  the  slightest  degree. 


EXERCISE  TWENTY-TWO 


UNDIRECTED  WORK;   MAINTAINING   THE   CHILD'S   NORM 
OR    EVERYDAY    LIFE 

All  the  time  that  this  work  with  the  drawing, 
and  filling  in  of  geometric  forms,  the  tracing  of 
the  sandpaper  letters  and  the  composition  of  words 
with  the  movable  alphabet  is  going  on,  the  child's 


. 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  81 

usual  normal  life  should  be  continued.  There  should 
be  plenty  of  undirected  outdoor  play,  where  the 
child's  natural  inventiveness  has  scope,  " hide-and- 
seek  "  games,  "tag,"  etc.,  with  plenty  of  fun  in  the 
company  of  other  children  should  be  encouraged. 
There  should  be  much  reading  to  him  of  well- 
selected  stories  and  poems  suited  to  his  age;  with 
long  hours  of  sleep,  and  a  certain  amount  of  helpful 
service  about  the  household  work.  A  "Montessori 
child"  does  not  by  any  means  signify  a  child  who 
devotes  most  of  his  time  to  exercises  with  the  formal 
"boughten"  apparatus. 

PLANT  AND  ANIMAL  PETS. — He  should  have,  if 
it  is  possible  to  arrange  this,  a  plant  or  two  of  his 
own  (even  at  the  age  of  three)  and  a  pet  of  his 
own,  preferably  a  good-natured  kitten,  for  he  is 
rather  young  as  yet  for  a  puppy.  He  should  assume 
the  real  responsibility  for  these  plant  and  animal 
pets,  caring  for  them  himself.  Later,  he  should 
have  a  little  plot  of  ground,  and  learn  from  actual 
experience  the  wonder  of  growth  from  seeds. 

How  THE  CHILD  LEARNS  SELF-CARE. — He  should 
have  in  his  own  room,  or  in  a  corner  of  another's 
(if  he  has  no  room  of  his  own)  a  tiny  washstand, 
with  a  little  bowl  and  pitcher,  light  enough  for 
him  to  handle,  and  a  mirror  hung  low  enough  for 
him  to  see  if  he  has  succeeded  in  getting  his  face 
clean.  He  should  be  allowed  the  time  necessary  to 


82  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

wash  his  face  and  hands,  and  should  be  taught  to 
empty  the  bowl  and  to  keep  his  washstand  neat 
and  clean.  If  this  habit  is  begun  at  an  early  age, 
it  is  not  at  all  difficult  for  a  very  young  child  to 
acquire  it  very  thoroughly,  and  to  be  more  con- 
scientious about  it,  and  similar  matters  of  personal 
neatness,  than  many  a  half-grown  boy  or  girl  who 
have  never  been  systematically  trained.  As  soon 
as  possible,  he  should  be  encouraged  and  allowed 
to  dress  himself,  his  clothes  being  made  with  this 
in  view,  although  there  must  always  be  some  but- 
tons which  three  and  four-year-old  fingers  cannot 
reach,  and  should  assume  the  responsibility  of  put- 
ting away  his  own  clothes  and  knowing  where  they 
are.  People  who  have  struggled  with  older  chil- 
dren on  these  subjects  will  be  surprised  to  note  how 
naturally  and  easily  a  little  child  will  assume  th 
helpful  and  desirable  habits.  The  important  poin 
is  to  " catch  him  young,"  before  he  has  learned 
other  bad  habits  of  irresponsibility  and  sloth.  Of 
course,  there  should  be,  as  far  as  humanly  possible, 
the  greatest  amount  of  regularity  and  routine  in 
the  little  life.  He  should  eat  his  meals  at  regular 
hours,  feeding  himself  and  sitting  at  a  low  table; 
he  should  take  his  naps  regularly;  he  should  always 
"pick  up"  his  own  room  before  leaving  it  in  the 
morning,  and  do  what  small  household  tasks  are 
his  every  day,  without  fail. 


USE  OP  THE  APPARATUS  83 

And  this  simple,  industrious,  tranquil  life,  with 
no  excitements  of  joining  in  adult  " pleasures";  full 
of  profitable  "play"  which  is  educational,  and  per- 
meated with  a  sense  of  responsibility  on  the  child's 
part  for  the  conduct  of  his  own  life,  is  the  Mon- 
tessori  life  for  a  child  between  two  and  seven.  It 
is  not  enough  that  he  construct  the  Tower,  and  the 
Long  Stair,  and  learn  his  sandpaper  letters  perfectly; 
he  must  learn  to  be  a  self-dependent,  self-respecting, 
self -trusting  citizen  of  his  little  world. 

EXERCISE    TWENTY-THREE 
FIKST    STEPS   IN    ARITHMETIC 

COUNTING  BOXES  AND  SANDPAPER  NUMBERS. — We 
have  now  to  consider  the  question  of  arithmetic  and 
the  Montessori  application  of  the  subject  to  the  child 
of  the  average  American  home.  There  is  a  preju- 
dice in  the  minds  of  most  Americans  about  pre- 
senting mathematics  to  children  under  six,  no  matter 
how  simply  it  may  be  arranged.  My  own  experi- 
ence, backed  up  by  that  of  the  Casa  dei  Bambini, 
is  that  children  over  three  take  a  lively  interest  in 
the  sequence  of  numbers,  and  in  some  of  the  simpler 
processes  of  arithmetic,  if  those  processes  can  be 
presented  to  them  in  a  sufficiently  concrete  form. 
The  Montessori  apparatus  for  this  purpose  is  very 
simple,  and  can  be  supplemented  by  several  other 
devices,  easily  obtained  in  any  home. 


84  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

These  counting  boxes  comprise  two  small  boxes, 
with  five  compartments  or  divisions  in  each.  Accom- 
panying the  two  boxes  are  fifty  smooth,  round  sticks, 
exactly  alike,  and  a  set  of  numbers  from  0  to  9, 
cut  out  of  sandpaper  and  pasted  on  white  cards. 
The  counting  sticks  give  the  child  a  concrete  basis 
for  the  abstract  names  of  the  numbers,  and  he  learns 
to  associate  the  symbol  with  the  concrete  object. 
At  first  the  child  does  not  play  with  the  sandpaper 
numbers.  These  are  removed  from  the  boxes  and 
he  but  wrestles  with  the  problem  of  oral  counting, 
using  the  sticks.  One  good  way  to  begin  is  by 
arranging  one  of  the  boxes  as  the  illustration  shows, 
the  one  to  the  left  of  the  page,  the  numbers  having 
been  removed;  that  is,  there  are  no  sticks  in  the 
first  compartment,  one  in  the  next,  two  in  the  next, 
three  in  the  next,  and  four  in  the  last.  This  exer- 
cise is,  of  course,  for  a  very  little  child,  who  has 
no  idea  of  the  definite  sequence  of  numbers,  or  of 
how  to  determine  how  many  objects  he  holds  in  his 
hand.  The  other  box  is  then  emptied  of  all  its 
contents  and  given  the  child,  with  an  ample  supply 
of  the  counting  sticks,  and  he  is  invited  to  make 
his  box  exactly  like  the  one  his  mother  has  arranged. 
Most  children  can,  even  at  a  very  early  age,  quickly 
put  one  stick  in  the  second  compartment  and  two  in 
the  next.  Here  frequently,  at  the  very  beginning, 
there  ensues  some  mental  confusion,  and  much  eager 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  85 

gazing  at  the  three  sticks  in  the  box  arranged  by§ 
the  mother.  Anxious  attempts  are  made  by  the 
child  to  lay  an  equal  number  in  the  next  compart- 
ment of  his  own  box.  The  mother  should  not  help 
in  this  process.  It  does  the  child  no  good  if  she 
interferes  and  does  it  herself,  or  corrects  his  mis- 
take. If  he  has  arrived  at  the  age  when  his  brain 
can  master  this  simple  arithmetical  idea,  he  will 
ultimately  solve  the  problem  and  place  the  proper 
number  of  sticks  in  each  compartment.  If  he  has 
not  yet  arrived  at  the  right  age  or  state  of  develop- 
ment, he  will  not  really  take  in  the  significance  of 
anything  his  mother  may  do,  seeking  to  aid  him. 
If  he  repeatedly  performs  this  exercise  incorrectly, 
or  shows  signs  of  mental  fatigue,  such  as  nervous 
irritation  at  his  inability  to  solve  the  problem,  the 
boxes  should  be  removed,  and  the  attempt  postponed 
until  a  later  day. 

ASTONISHING  MENTAL  GROWTH.  —  The  mental 
growth  of  children  at  this  age  is  so  astonishingly 
rapid  that  sometimes  a  child  will  be  able  easily 
to  solve  a  problem  only  a  week  after  he  has  found 
it  perfectly  impenetrable.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
during  the  week  some  subconscious  forces  of  the 
mind  have  been,  quite  unknown  to  the  child,  work- 
ing on  the  problem  presented.  In  no  other  way 
can  an  explanation  be  found  of  the  surprising  man- 
ner in  which,  after  failing  on  a  Montessori  exercise, 


86  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

a  child  will  take  it  up,  several  days  later,  without 
having  touched  it  in  the  meantime,  and  know  how 
to  set  to  work  purposefully  and  successfully.  It 
is  far  better  to  trust  this  principle  of  growth  than 
to  attempt  to  urge  the  child  to  put  forth  powers 
which  he  does  not  as  yet  possess. 

BEGINS  TO  COUNT. — As  soon  as  he  can  complete 
the  series  up  to  four,  he  can  go  on,  one  at  a  time, 
to  complete  the  series  up  to  nine,  as  shown  in  the 
illustration;  and  then,  if  he  is  the  normal  child, 
with  a  wide-awake,  intelligent,  curious  mind,  he  will 
be  observed  " counting"  everything  in  sight.  He 
is  delighted  with  his  new  acquisition,  and  employs 
it  on  all  the  material  at  hand,  A  child  of  three 
and-a-half,  who  had  just  mastered  the  sequence  in 
the  counting  boxes,  ran  about  the  house,  counting 
the  windows,  the  drawers  in  the  bureaus,  the  chairs 
in  the  rooms,  the  legs  of  the  tables,  and  deriving 
the  most  mysterious  satisfaction,  which  lasted  for 
many  days,  from  this  new  control  of  the  world 
about  him.  He  gets,  of  course,  from  having  his 
interest  and  own  initiative  once  aroused,  vastly  more 
drill  in  repetition  exercise  than  the  most  ingenious 
teacher  could  give  him. 


Children  putting  away  Didactic  material,  National  Kindergarten  College,  Chicago 


USE  OF  THE  APPAKATUS  87 

EXERCISE  TWENTY-FOUR 
THE    SANDPAPER    NUMBERS    ARE    ADDED 

Now  is  the  time  to  bring  out  the  sandpaper 
numbers.  He  is  taught  these  just  as  he  learned  his 
letters,  one  at  a  time,  and  following  the  three  regu- 
lar steps.  First,  the  mother  guides  the  little  fore- 
finger over  the  rough  sandpaper  as  the  number 
would  be  written,  at  the  same  time  pronouncing 

* 

the  name  of  the  number,  slowly  and  distinctly,  and 
adding  no  explanations.  She  should  here,  as  always, 
refrain  from  the  wordy  comments  to  which  we  are 
all  too  much  given,  and  should  not  say,  "See,  this 
is  8.  It  looks  like  'S,'  only  a  little  different;  you 
see,  S  is  open  here,  and  here,"  etc.  She  should,  in- 
stead, hold  up  the  card,  say  clearly,  "8,"  and  show 
the  little  fingers  how  to  trace  the  outline.  Then  she 
should  lay  several  down  on  the  table,  and  ask  the 
child,  "Give  me  %'  "  or,  "Give  me  %'  please."  When 
he  has  mastered  this,  she  should  then  hold  up  a  card 
and  ask  the  child  to  tell  her  what  it  is.  When  he 
can  do  this  accurately,  he  has  mastered  his  numbers. 
According  to  his  age  and  capacity,  this  may  take  him 
two  days,  or  two  weeks.  The  next  thing  to  do  is  to 
teach  him  to  connect  them  with  the  right  number  of 
objects.  And  here  the  counting  boxes  come  again 
into  play.  He  should  arrange  the  series,  and  place 
the  right  number  in  each  compartment.  The  mother 


88  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

will  be  surprised  to  see  that  even  after  mastering 
the  names  and  looks  of  the  number  and  the  sequence 
in  the  number  boxes,  the  average  child  finds  it 
quite  an  intellectual  effort  to  put  the  two  things 
together  in  his  mind.  He  will  need  plenty  of  time 
and  quiet  to  struggle  with  the  new  problem,  and 
if  it  is  too  hard  on  the  first  trial,  the  number  boxes 
should  be  taken  away  without  comment,  and  some 
other  "game"  suggested. 

EXERCISE    TWENTY-FIVE 

AN  ARITHMETICAL  GAME  WITH  THE  LONG  STAIR. 
— Another  arithmetical  game  is  played  with  the 
Long  Stair.  The  stair  is  arranged  in  sequence  and 
a  cardboard  number  corresponding  with  the  num- 
ber of  rods  in  the  section  is  leaned  up  against  the 
section;  "1"  against  the  section  with  only  one  rod, 
the  "2"  against  the  next  one,  and  so  forth.  I 
remember  seeing  a  child  of  four  go  slowly  through 
this  exercise  in  a  Casa  dei  Bambini,  taking  frequent 
rests,  but  returning  with  a  steady,  purposeful  indus- 
try to  his  undertaking,  until  he  had  the  whole 
sequence  up  to  ten  correctly  numbered.  And  then 
he  lay  down  and  took  a  brief  nap,  being  apparently 
quite  exhausted  by  the  mental  effort  involved  in 
what  seems  the  simplest  possible  of  rational  con- 
nections between  ideas. 

A  GAME  WITH  MONEY. — About  this  time,  or  per- 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  89 

haps  a  little  earlier,  it  is  well  to  begin  to  teach  a 
child  the  significance  of  money.  He  is  always  inter- 
ested in  this,  seeing  it  of  so  much  importance  in 
the  life  of  adults,  and  will  play  with  it  endlessly, 
and  study  the  possible  combinations  to  be  made 
with  it,  if  they  are  suggested  to  his  mind.  It  is 
better,  if  possible,  to  have  new  money.  If  this 
cannot  be  managed,  the  coins  should  be  thoroughly 
cleansed  before  the  child  plays  with  them.  The 
mother  should  teach  him  the  names  of  the  different 
coins  with  the  same  three  steps  used  in  teaching 
him  the  names  of  the  letters  and  numbers;  that 
is,  first  tell  him  the  names,  slowly,  one  or  two  at 
a  time;  then  ask  him  for  a  given  coin;  then  point 
to  a  given  coin  and  ask  what  it  is  called.  At  first 
the  little  child  likes,  as  a  rule,  simply  to  sort  out 
the  money  into  the  right  piles,  all  the  pennies 
together,  all  the  nickels,  all  the  quarters,  etc.  He 
should  be  allowed  to  play  in  this  way  until  he  is 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  their  names  and  sizes. 
Then,  if  he  is  old  enough  to  count  with  certainty 
up  to  ten,  the  relative  value  of  the  different  coins 
can  be  explained  to  him;  five  pennies  equal  one 
nickel,  etc.  This  is  somewhat  complicated,  and  care 
should  be  taken  to  go  very  slowly,  only  a  little  on 
any  one  day.  When  he  has  grasped  something  of 
this  relation,  the  mother  can  hold  up  a  nickel  and 
ask,  "How  many  pennies  do  I  want  for  this?'1 


90  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

Or  she  and  the  child  can  play  a  simple  version  of 
the  "going  shopping''  game,  always  so  fascinating 
to  older  children.  "I  want  six  pennies  for  this 
spool  of  thread."  "How  much  do  you  want  for 
that  doll?"  etc. 

ARITHMETICAL  GAME  WITH  COUNTING  STICKS. — 
An  interesting  "game"  which  can  be  played  with 
numbers,  if  there  are  two  or  more  children  together, 
is  the  following:  A  certain  number  of  the  count- 
ing sticks,  or  any  other  objects  such  as  clothespins, 
stones,  spoons,  coins,  etc.,  are  placed  on  a  table. 
The  mother  then  holds  a  bag  containing  the  num- 
bers up  to  ten.  Each  child  draws  a  number  at 
random,  and,  without  showing  it  to  his  companions, 
goes  back  to  his  seat.  When  all  have  drawn  their 
numbers,  each  child  goes  up  to  the  table  and  selects 
from  it  the  number  of  objects  corresponding  with 
the  number  hidden  in  his  hand.  He  carries  these 
back  to  his  place  and  arranges  them  in  order,  and 
waits  for  the  mother  or  teacher  to  come  and  verify 
the  correctness  of  his  counting. 

TEACHES  SELF-CONTROL.  —  This  simple  game, 
which  would  not  amuse  older  children  for  a  moment, 
is  of  inexhaustible  interest  for  little  ones,  and  has 
a  various  and  complex  influence  on  them.  There 
is  a  considerable  amount  of  self-control  involved  in 
their  taking  only  the  number  of  objects  indicated 
by  the  number  they  have  drawn,  since  every  child's 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  91 

instinctive  action  is  to  grab  all  he  can  hold  and 
carry  off  his  prize  in  triumph.  The  mother  should 
explain  that  this  spoils  the  fun  of  the  game,  which 
consists  in  fitting  the  mysterious  written  sign  to 
the  number  of  objects  chosen.  Another  conception 
which  is  firmly  settled  in  the  child's  mind  by  this 
and  other  similar  " games"  is  the  abstract  idea  of 
"zero,"  since  the  child  who  draws  zero  selects  no 
objects  at  all. 

GAME  WITH  SANDPAPER  NUMBERS. — Another 
arithmetical  game  which  can  be  played  with  one 
or  many  children  is  played  with  the  sandpaper 
numbers,  or  any  large  numbers,  such  as  could  be 
cut  out  of  old  calendars.  The  mother  or  teacher 
holds  up  a  number  and  asks,  "Come  and  give  me 
this  many  kisses,"  or,  "Bring  me  this  number  of 
pennies."  This  sort  of  "fun"  familiarizes  the  mind 
of  the  little  child  with  the  connection  between  the 
written  sign  and  the  number,  and  especially  fixes 
in  his  brain  (in  the  game  just  described)  the  real 
concept  of  the  sign  "zero,"  which  is  often  a  stum- 
blingblock  to  older  children. 

GAME  WITH  MOVABLE  ALPHABET. — A  similar  game 
can  be  played  with  the  movable  alphabet,  with  older 
children,  who  have  learned  the  beginnings  of  read- 
ing. The  mother  constructs  a  word,  say  for  instance, 
"pin,"  and,  pointing  it  out  to  the  child,  says,  "Bring 
me  this,  please."  The  child  who  is  first  to  read 


92  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

the  word  and  select  the  article,  wins.  When  sev- 
eral children  of  the  same  age  and  acquirements  play 
this  together,  the  fun,  and  intensity  of  interest,  and 
consequent  sharpening  of  wits,  form  an  invaluable 
exercise. 

HIDE-AND-SEEK  WITH  MOVABLE  ALPHABET. — A 
game  of  hide-and-seek  can  also  be  played  with  chil- 
dren who  have  begun  to  recognize  words  formed 
with  the  movable  alphabet.  The  mother  constructs, 
in  different  parts  of  the  room,  different  simple 
words  which  the  child  has  already  seen,  such  as 
"pig,"  "hen,"  "dog,"  etc.  The  child  is  out  of 
the  room  while  this  is  being  done,  and  is  called 
back  to  be  told,  "I  hear  something  grunting."  He 
then  rushes  about,  peering  under  the  chairs  and 
on  the  table  and  window-sills,  rejecting  all  other 
words  he  finds,  until  he  comtfe  triumphantly  to  "pig." 
It  is  better,  with  little  children,  to  use  the  movable 
alphabet  for  these  words,  rather  than  writing  them 
on  paper,  even  in  the  plainest  script,  for  two  reasons : 
first,  the  child  is  more  used  to  the  movable  alpha- 
bet; and  second,  the  letters  are  so  very  large  that 
there  can  be  not  the  slightest  opportunity  for  eye- 
strain. 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  93 

EXERCISE   TWENTY-SIX 
THE    MONTESSORI    SILENCE    TRAINING 

There  is  one  phase  of  the  Montessori  training 
which  has  not  yet  been  touched  upon,  and  it  is 
rather  hard  to  manage  in  the  ordinary  small  Amer- 
ican family.  That  is  the  exercise  known  as  "  Making 
the  Silence."  I  quote  the  description  of  this  impress- 
ive exercise,  given  in  A  Montessori  Mother,  so  that 
the  American  mother  may  have  some  idea  of  what 
she  is  to  try  to  imitate,  in  her  differing  circumstances : 

"One  may  be  moving  about  between  the  groups 
of  busy  children,  or  sitting  watching  their  lively 
animation,  or  listening  to  the  cheerful  hum  of  their 
voices,  when  one  feels  a  curious  change  in  the  atmos- 
phere, like  the  hush  which  falls  on  a  forest  when 
the  sun  suddenly  goes-,  behind  a  cloud.  If  it  is 
the  first  time  that  one  has  seen  this  " lesson,"  the 
effect  is  startling.  A  quick  glance  around  shows 
that  the  children  have  stopped  playing  as  well  as 
talking,  and  are  sitting  motionless  at  their  tables, 
their  eyes  on  the  blackboard,  where,  in  large  let- 
ters, is  written,  'Silenzio'  (Silence).  Even  the  little 
ones,  who  cannot  read,  follow  the  example  of  the 
older  ones  and  not  only  sit  motionless  but  look 
fixedly  at  the  magic  word.  The  Directress  is  visible 
now,  standing  by  the  blackboard,  in  an  attitude  and 
with  an  expression  of  tranquillity  which  is  as  calm- 


94  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

ing  to  see  as  the  meditative  impassivity  of  a  Bud- 
dhist priest.  The  silence  becomes  more  and  more 
intense.  To  untrained  ears  it  seems  absolute,  but 
an  occasional  gesture  or  warning  smile  from  the 
Directress  shows  that  a  little  hand  has  moved,  almost 
but  not  quite  inaudibly,  or  a  chair  has  creaked. 

"And  then  a  real  veil  of  twilight  falls  to  inten- 
sify the  effect.  The  Directress  goes  quietly  about 
from  window  to  window,  closing  the  shutters.  In 
the  ensuing  twilight,  the  children  bow  their  heads 
on  their  clasped  hands,  in  the  attitude  of  prayer. 
The  Directress  steps  through  the  door  into  the  next 
room,  and  a  slow  voice,  faint  and  clear,  comes  float- 
ing back,  calling  a  child's  name:  'El — e — na!' 

"A  child  lifts  her  head,  opens  her  eyes,  rises 
silently  as  a  little  spirit,  and,  with  a  glowing  fa< 
of  exaltation,  tiptoes  out  of  the  room,  flinging  her- 
self joyously  into  the  waiting  arms. 

"The   summons   comes   again,   'Vit — to — rio!' 

"A  little  boy  lifts  his  head  from  his  desk,  show- 
ing a  face  of  sweet,  sober  content  at  being  called, 
and  goes  silently  across  the  big  room,  taking  •  his 
place  by  the  side  of  the  Directress.  And  so  it  goes, 
until  perhaps  fifteen  children  are  clustered  happily 
about  the  teacher.  Then,  as  informally  and  natu- 
rally as  it  began,  the  'game'  is  over.  The  teacher 
comes  back  into  the  room  with  her  usual  quiet,  firm 
step;  light  pours  in  at  the  windows;  the  mystic 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  95 

word  is  erased  from  the  blackboard.  The  children 
smile  at  each  other,  and  begin  to  play  again,  per- 
haps a  little  more  quietly  than  before,  perhaps  more 
gently,  certainly  with  the  shining  eyes  of  devout 
believers  who  have  blessedly  lost  themselves  in  an 
instant  of  rapt  and  self -forgetting  devotion." 

Now,  this  exercise  is,  of  course,  practically  impos- 
sible to  imitate  exactly  in  a  small  family,  but  some 
adaptation  of  it  should  be  made,  for  its  benefits 
are  too  important  to  be  missed.  It  was  begun  as 
an  exercise  for  the  sense 'of  hearing,  since  the  chil- 
dren are  called  in  the  lightest  possible  whisper; 
but  it  was  soon  seen  to  be  of  great  moral  impor- 
tance. Such  a  period  of  perfect  silence  and  immo- 
bility, if  he  takes  it  of  his  own  accord,  has  the  most 
miraculously  calming  effect  on  the  average  nervous, 
high-strung  American  child. 

It  can  be  begun  by  a  laughing  competition  between 
mother  and  child,  or  between  two  or  more  chil- 
dren, to  see  who  can  "keep  the  stillest."  The  one 
who  moves  first  has  "lost."  The  mother  can  set 
the  example  by  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
so  intensely  quiet  that  it  is  "as  if  she  were  not 
there."  Or  she  can  sit  beside  the  child  on  a  bed 
or  sofa,  and  try  with  him  to  be  so  silent  that  any 
one  entering  the  room  could  not  guess  their  pres- 
ence. A  slightly  darkened  room  adds  to  the  quiet- 
ing effect  of  this  exercise.  Or  she  can  leave  him  in 


96  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

a  room  by  himself  until  lie  is  perfectly  silent,  and 
then  call  him  in  a  faint  whisper,  after  which  he 
tries  to  leave  the  room  so  silently  that  his  footsteps 
cannot  be  heard. 

EXERCISE   TWENTY-SEVEN 

GAMES    THAT    TEACH    SELF-CONTROL    AND    COMMAND    OF 
THE   FIVE   SENSES 

An  exercise  in  pure  immobility  can  be  given  by 
showing  the  child  his  shadow,  cast  by  a  bright  light 
back  of  him,  and  asking  him  if  he  can  keep  so  quiet 
that  his   shadow   will  not   quiver.     The   shadow 
so  much  enlarged  that  the  slightest  motion  is  readil; 
perceived  by  the  child. 

These  exercises  are  taken  because,  to  have  pei 
feet  control   of  the  muscles   of  the  body,   it  is 
essential  to  be  able  to  do  nothing  with  them  as 
be  able  to  use  them  accurately.     The  ordinary  chil- 
dren's   game,    like    " blind-man's    buff,"    where    th< 
players  must  be  silent  or  they  will  be  caught,  ai 
fine   practice   for   attaining  this   capacity  to   sit   01 
stand  perfectly  quiet,  and  children  should  be  encour- 
aged to  play  them.    In  fact,  many  of  our  homeliest 
and  most   familiar  children's   games   are   based   on 
the  pleasure  children  naturally  take  in  learning  self- 
control,  and  command  of  their  five  senses.     "  Hide- 
and-seek"  in  all  its  forms  is  fine  exercise  for  little 
children,  who  often,  at  the  beginning,  find  it  impos- 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  97 

sible  to  control  themselves  long  enough  to  remain 
hidden.  And  "hunt-the-thimble"  is  splendid  prac- 
tice for  concentrating  the  naturally  wandering  atten- 
tion of  little  ones.  They  should  be  taught  these 
games  carefully,  and  some  supervision  given  at  first, 
to  make  sure  they  have  caught  the  idea,  and  then 
every  inducement  given  to  continue  playing  them. 

EXERCISE  TWENTY-EIGHT 

TURNING    THE    CHILD'S    EVERYDAY    ACTIVITIES    INTO 
MONTESSORI    EXERCISES 

Before  leaving  the  discussion  of  the  formal  Mon- 
tessori  apparatus  and  going  on  to  the  discussion 
of  the  Montessori  idea  of  obedience  and  discipline, 
I  wish  to  make  one  more  general  remark,  to  the 
effect  that  the  mother  will  do  well  to  remember 
that  practically  anything  which  the  child  takes  into 
its  head  to  do  (provided  it  is  not  injurious  to  him- 
self or  others)  can  be  made  into  a  more  or  less 
efficient  Montessori  exercise,  which  will  teach,  him 
command  of  material  objects  and  muscular  self- 
control.  Eestrain  as  much  as  possible  the  natural 
instinct  to  cry  to  an  inquiring,  investigating  three 
or  four-year-old  child,  " Don't  touch  that!"  "Come 
away  from  there!"  etc.  Of  course,  if  he  is  trying 
to  reach  a  basin  of  boiling  water,  such  peremptory 
commands  to  inaction  are  necessary.  But  in  most 


98  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

cases  a  moment's  reflection  shows  that  the  child's 
action  is  not  "naughty"  in  itself,  and  if  the  action 
is  directed  in  the  right  way,  will  harm  neither  him- 
self nor  the  object  touched.  If  he  suddenly  per- 
ceives the  curious  way  in  which  drawers  in  a  bureau 
open  and  shut,  he  should  not  be  called  away  and 
forbidden  to  touch  them.  Our  first  thought  is  that 
he  is  trying  to  get  at  the  contents  of  the  drawer 
to  injure  them;  whereas,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
his  only  interest  is  in  mastering  the  mechanism  of 
the  sliding  drawer.  Now  is  the  time,  while  his 
interest  is  aroused,  to  show  him  how  to  open  and 
shut  drawers  easily,  without  drawing  them  out  t< 
far,  without  pinching  his  fingers  when  he  shuts  thei 
up.  This  practical  exercise  in  one  of  the  process 
of  everyday  life  is  quite  as  good  as  any  " lesson' 
taught  by  the  Montessori  apparatus  in  a  Casa  d( 
Bambini.  The  child  can  do  no  possible  harm  b; 
opening  and  shutting  the  drawers,  and  he  is  lea] 
ing  a  very  great  deal  about  the  way  to  manage  hi* 
muscles  and  to  concentrate  his  attention  on  the  ope] 
tion  he  undertakes. 

ANALYZE  THE  CHILD'S  MOTIVES. — There  are, 
the  course  of  every  day  in  an  ordinary  home,  innu- 
merable such  exercises,  which  are  forbidden  th< 
average  child,  simply  because  his  parents  do  n< 
take  the  trouble  to  analyze  his  needs.  Of  course, 
it  will  not  do  to  allow  a  child  to  crumple  up  freshly 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  99 

ironed  table  linen,  but  we  are  mistaken  in  thinking 
that  a  little  child  had  any  " naughty"  motive  in 
doing  this.  His  desire  was  to  handle  cloth,  as  he 
sees  his  mother  handling  it;  to  try  to  fold  it  up, 
and  spread  it  out,  and  lay  it  evenly  over  a  table  or 
chair.  An  old  dishcloth  will  do  as  well  for  him 
as  one's  best  dinner  napkin.  In  short,  one  should 
cultivate  the  habit  of  asking  one's  self  definitely, 
before  forbidding  an  action  to  a  child,  "Is  it  really 
bad  for  him  to  do  it?"  "Will  he  really  injure  any- 
thing by  doing  it?"  and  finally  (this  the  most  impor- 
tant), "Is  there  not  some  substitute  activity  which 
I  could  provide  for  him,  without  the  objectionable 
features  of  what  he  is  doing?" 

How  TO  AVOID  GIVING  NEGATIVE  COMMANDS. — 
Every  mother  should  have  a  fixed  rule  for  herself, 
to  give  as  few  as  possible  merely  negative  com- 
mands. She  should  try  almost  never  to  say  merely, 
"Don't  do  that,"  but  to  have  the  quick  inventive- 
ness to  say,  "You  may  now  do  this,"  or  "You  may 
not  do  that;  but  here  is  something  very  much  like 
it  which  you  may  do." 

EXERCISE    TWENTY-NINE 

LEARNING  TO  USE  BOOKS  AND   TO   HANDLE  DELICATE  AND 
FRAGILE    OBJECTS 

Instead  of  forbidding  a  little  child  to  touch  books, 
on  the  contrary,  he  should  be  given  certain  strongly 


100  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

bound,  plain  volumes,  and  allowed  to  handle  them, 
after  the  method  of  treating  them  carefully  has 
been  explained  to  him — always  in  the  Montessori 
manner  of  brief  explanations  and  few  words.  Even 
very  little  children  often  show  the  greatest  pleasure 
in  " playing"  with  a  book,  turning  over  the  leaves 
and  pretending  to  read  aloud,  and  their  little  fingers 
learn  deft  care  in  the  use  of  printed  pages,  which 
makes  it,  as  they  grow  older,  no  more  natural  for 
them  than  for  an  adult  to  tear  or  mutilate  a  volume. 
They  should  be  allowed  an  occasional  exercise, 
granted  as  a  great  privilege,  of  handling  and  look- 
ing at  some  delicate  objects,  like  embroidered  table 
linen,  or  the  contents  of  a  jewel  box.  They 
soon  learn  to  wash  their  hands  with  fervor  an< 
to  touch  such  fine  and  breakable  objects  with  th< 
most  breathless  care.  How  else  can  they  learn  pro] 
erly  to  treat  fragile  objects,  except  by  handling 
them  once  in  a  while?  Of  course,  the  concentration 
necessary  for  them  to  be  careful  and  cautious  in 
lifting  and  looking  at  such  things  is  too  great  for 
them  to  continue  at  it  very  long.  After  a  time,  the 
box  of  doilies,  or  the  fancy  pins  and  rings,  or  the 
handsomely  illustrated  book,  should  be  taken  away 
and  a  less  breakable  or  spoilable  plaything  given. 
But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  treat  a  child,  even  as 
young  as  three,  as  though  he  were  maliciously 
destructive,  and  to  have  him,  for  instance,  always 


USE  OF  THE  APPARATUS  —     J  ^  ^  '  'ifo' 

eat  from  a  tin  plate  and  drink  from  a  tin  or  silver 
cup.  He  will  acquire  inevitably  the  mental  habit 
of  carelessness  in  handling  such  objects.  His  tin 
cup  will  not  break  if  he  drops  it — why  should  he 
take  any  pains  not  to  drop  it?  The  four-year-old 
children  in  Rome  who  bring  in  from  the  school 
kitchen  big  tureens  of  hot  soup,  and  wash  the  dishes 
after  a  meal,  successfully,  should  be  remembered. 
The  little  child  should  be  carefully  trained,  by  the 
formal  Montessori  apparatus,  to  a  firm,  light,  unhur- 
ried grasp  on  what  he  takes  hold  of,  and  then  should 
be  trusted  with  this  new  power. 

Trust  the  Child. — The  more  he  is  trusted,  the 
more  astonished  will  be  his  mother  at  the  extent 
to  which  it  is  quite  safe  to  trust  him.  If  he  has 
not  been  forbidden  always  to  touch  things,  there 
will  be  no  temptation  to  furtive  and  disobedient 
handlings  of  objects,  always  with  the  fear  of  being 
discovered,  which  makes  for  nervousness  and  mus- 
cular uncertainty.  The  mother  will  find  that  a  child 
who  is  allowed  to  learn  by  practicing  the  various 
household  processes  shows  no  desire  to  be  the  merely 
destructive  force  which  so  many  older,  untrained 
children  helplessly  show  themselves. 

If  the  child  is  provided  with  a  goodly  supply  of 
objects  to  handle,  there  is  little  temptation  to  touch 
the  few  things  which  are  rightly  forbidden  him. 
I  know  a  nervous,  active  little  girl  of  four,  who 


102  TSE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

is  allowed  to  play  freely  with  all  the  objects  on 
her  father's  writing  desk,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  fountain  pen  and  the  ink,  which  are  the 
only  things  she  might  injure.  She  has,  at  intervals, 
amused  herself  for  six  months  with  the  other  objects 
—the  blotter  pad  and  the  calendar,  the  letter  weight, 
the  book  rack,  the  letter  basket — and  never  once, 
in  all  that  time,  has  ever  suggested  touching  the 
ink  well,  nor  has  ever  forgotten  to  replace  carefully 
the  objects  handled. 

Treat  the  Child  as  Human  Being. — In  general, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  very  little  child, 
who  has  had  no  opportunity  to  acquire  bad  mental 
habits,  is  a  member  of  the  family  and  a  human 
being,  as  much  as  any  of  the  adults,  and  should  be 
treated  as  such.  He  has  no  natural,  inborn  desire 
to  destroy  objects,  if  he  can  learn  how  to  handle 
them  without  injuring  them.  He  learns  from  touch- 
ing, weighing,  handling  objects  of  different  sizes 
and  shapes,  and  he  should  be  allowed  to  do  this, 
unless  there  is  a  positive,  serious  reason  against  it. 


Torresdale  House,  Torresdale,  Phil.     First  building  erected  in  America  for 
Montessori  work,  at  a  cost  of  $30,000.00 


The  Junior  Montessori  Room,  Torresdale  House 


\ 


SUGGESTIVE    EXERCISES    ON    NATURE 

STUDY 

Nature  Study  is  one  of  the  subjects  which  (owing 
to  conditions  in  Rome)  Dr.  Montessori  has  not  yet 
fully  elaborated,  so  that  whatever  is  done  now  in 
that  direction  by  American  mothers,  using  her  prin- 
ciples with  young  children,  must  be  largely  the 
result  of  their  own  initiative.  It  will  be  well  to 
read  any  good  manual  of  Nature  Study  used  in 
kindergarten  and  the  lower  grades;  and  the  State 
Agricultural  Experiment  Stations  of  various  states, 
notably  that  of  Cornell  University,  have  issued  some 
suggestive  pamphlets  on  the  subject,  which  may  be 
secured  by  sending  a  request. 

However,  any  mother  lucky  enough  to  be  bring- 
ing up  her  children  in  a  small  town  or  the  country, 
with  a  few  trees  and  a  bit  of  ground  available,  needs 
only  a  jog  to  her  inventiveness.  The  changing 
seasons  will  provide  an  illustrated  history  which 
needs  only  a  running  commentary  to  make  it  intel- 
ligible to  the  child. 

Throughout  this  work,  the  mother  should  bear 
in  mind  the  strong  conviction  of  Dr.  Montessori  on 

103 


104  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

this  subject.  The  Dottoressa  holds  that  the  usual 
pretty,  fanciful,  fairy-tale  wording  of  information 
about  facts  of  Nature  is  harmful  and  misleading 
to  young  children,  who  are  quite  literal-minded  about 
accepting  fairies  and  the  like.  For  this  reason,  all 
kindergarten  literature  and  nature  study  should  be 
taken  with  a  grain  of  salt  on  the  mother's  part. 
A  maple  leaf  is  not  a  fairy  hand;  a  morning-glory 
is  not  a  tent  for  the  fairies;  the  buds  of  the  trees 
in  winter  time  are  not  " cradles"  for  leaves,  but 
are  the  germs  of  leaves,  protected  from  the  cold, 
etc.  The  average  child  has  naturally  only  too  inac- 
curate a  gaze  at  objects.  He  needs  no  encourage- 
ment to  imagine  them  something  different  from 
what  they  are.  If  he  is  to  have  fairies,  let  him 
have  them  frankly  imaginary,  and  not  confuse  with 
them  the  actual  facts  of  the  universe.  The  facts 
of  nature,  the  growth  of  plants,  seeds,  etc.,  are  quil 
wonderful  and  fantastic  enough  to  interest 
child  without  dressing  them  up  in  a  wildly  imagi- 
nary lingo  which  throws  his  simple  mind  entirely 
off  the  right  track.  I  knew  a  child  who  had  been 
told  that  the  leaf-buds  in  winter  were  the  cradles 
for  the  leaves,  and  who  lost  his  entire  faith  in 
his  teachers  when  a  winter  bud  was  cut  open  before 
him,  and  no  leaf  rolled  out.  It  is  hard  to  conceive 
the  entire,  literal  faith  of  little  children  in  what 
they  are  told.  The  greatest  care  should  be  taken 


SUGGESTIVE  EXERCISES  ON  NATURE  STUDY      105 

not  to  abuse  this  by  telling  them  things  that  are 
not  so.  Things  that  are  so  are  more  than  inter- 
esting enough. 

The  growth  of  tree  buds  can  be  studied  in  the 
house  by  taking  a  small  branch  from  a  tree  in  Janu- 
ary or  February  and  letting  it  open  in  the  warm 
air  of  an  indoor  room.  This  process  takes  place 
so  slowly  that  every  child  whose  attention  is  called 
to  it,  day  after  day,  will  have  it  firmly  impressed 
upon  his  mind.  The  growth  of  seeds  can  be  shown 
by  planting  close  to  the  edge  of  an  old  jelly  glass 
filled  with  earth.  The  growth  of  the  young  roots 
can  be  watched  through  the  glass.  A  supply  of 
small  pots  to  grow  different  sorts  of  plants  is  also 
a  good  bit  of  " apparatus."  The  simplest  varieties 
are  the  best — corn,  peas,  grass,  etc.  If  this  is  done 
in  winter,  when  there  is  not  the  bewildering  variety 
of  vegetation  outdoors,  the  child — even  the  very 
young  child — will  soon  come  to  recognize  different 
plants  very  readily,  and  to  have  some  notion  of 
their  requirements. 

In  summer  time,  a  great  deal  is  absorbed  by 
simply  living  close  to  Mother  Earth,  especially  if 
the  parents  are  interested  in  processes  of  Nature. 
The  child  should  have,  if  possible,  a  little  garden 
of  his  own,  which  he  is  allowed  to  care  for  "all 
himself,"  and  his  attention  should  be  called  to  the 
actions  of  ants,  birds,  insects,  chickens,  etc.  He 


106  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

should  then  be  allowed  to  observe  these  things,  inde- 
pendent of  supervision  and  suggestion,  using  them 
as  he  uses  his  Montessori  apparatus,  as  a  means 
to  self-education.  It  is  a  good  plan,  if  possible,  to 
have  drawn  on  large  sheets  of  paper  simple  outlines 
of  common  birds  and  animals,  which  the  child  fills 
in  with  colors.  Do  not  correct  him  if  he  makes  a 
pig  green,  or  the  sky  pink.  The  fact  that  he  is 
thinking  at  all  about  the  color  of  pigs  and  the  sky 
will  make  him,  some  day,  of  his  own  accord,  notice 
the  real  color,  and  this  discovery  will  be  of  infi- 
nitely more  value  to  him  if  he  has  made  it  quite 
himself.  The  difference  between  weeds  (plants  that 
are  not  useful)  and  flowers  and  vegetables  should 
be  explained  to  him,  and  his  aid  secured  for  the 
campaign  against  weeds.  He  is  certain  to  feel  a 
great  self-importance  at  being  allowed  to  help  in 
the  care  of  the  garden. 


VI 

MONTESSORI    GENERAL    IDEAS    ABOUT 
DISCIPLINE  AND  OBEDIENCE 

The  philosophy  underlying  all  of  the  Montessori 
Method  for  educating  young  children  was  briefly 
described  before  the  apparatus  was  taken  up.  No 
one  should  undertake  to  use  the  apparatus  without 
a  firm  grasp  on  that  master  principle,  that  the  aim 
of  education  in  the  case  of  the  little  child  (as  for 
all  of  us)  is  not  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  but 
the  desire  and  capacity  to  acquire  knowledge;  and 
further,  that  since  the  child  must  himself  feel  and 
acquire  this  desire  and  this  capacity,  it  is  essential 
to  leave  him  as  much  opportunity  as  possible  for 
the  exercise  of  his  own  initiative  and  his  own  inven- 
tion. For  the  three-year-old,  as  for  the  ten-year- 
old,  it  will  do  the  child  no  good  for  the  mother  to 
learn  his  lessons  for  him.  The  joy  of  a  little  child's 
heart  is  in  overcoming  obstacles,  and  if  his  mother 
takes  all  the  obstacles  away  from  him,  she  takes 
the  flavor  out  of  his  life.  The  Montessori  appa- 
ratus— the  whole  Montessori  idea — is  meant  to  fur- 
nish appropriate  obstacles  for  children  of  three  and 
four,  and  five  and  six  years  old. 

107 


108  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

Since  this  general  philosophy  was  stated  at  the 
beginning  of  this  Manual,  there  is  no  necessity  for 
repeating  that  statement  here.  But  there  is  one 
phase  of  the  Montessori  idea  which  needs  more 
explicit  expression  than  it  is  apt  to  get  in  general 
descriptions  of  the  system.  That  is  the  question 
of  discipline  and  obedience.  Those  two  subjects  are 
so  vital  and  so  tragically  misunderstood  by  most  of 
us,  that  it  may  be  well  to  go  a  little  more  deeply 
into  the  discussion  of  them. 

INTELLIGENT  OBEDIENCE. — The  first  thing  to  do, 
in  the  consideration  of  the  obedience  of  children,  is 
to  differentiate  clearly  in  our  minds  between  the 
obedience  that  is  desirable  for  an  animal,  and  that 
which  is  desirable  for  the  young  of  the  human  race. 
"We  are  apt  to  be  confused  here,  and  to  have  a  mis- 
understood notion  that  children  should  obey,  unques- 
tioningly,  passively,  with  no  volition  of  their  own, 
as  does  a  well-broken  horse.  But  such  unquestion- 
ing obedience,  as  a  moment's  reflection  will  show,  is 
a  very  dangerous  mental  habit  for  a  child  to  acquire, 
as  well  as  a  very  difficult  one  to  force  him  to  acquire. 
The  horse  may  obey  unquestioningly  some  human 
being;  he  will  always  have  some  human  being  set 
in  authority  over  him.  But  in  a  very  few  years, 
as  human  life  goes,  the  child  will  be  grown;  will 
no  longer  be  subject  to  the  authority  of  parents,  and 
must  in  turn  be  able  to  secure  the  obedience  of 


MONTESSOKI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE        109 

others.  It  is  essential,  therefore,  that  he  shall  begin 
to  be  a  human  being — that  is,  to  obey  intelligently 
— as  soon  as  possible.  What  do  we  mean  by  the 
phrase  "obey  intelligently?"  We  mean  he  must 
obey,  not  because  some  one  has  told  him  to  and  will 
punish  him  if  he  does  not,  for  that  is  the  obedience 
exacted  of  the  animal;  but  he  will  obey  because 
the  command  is  a  reasonable  one,  which  his  reason 
tells  him  it  is  necessary  to  obey.  We  adults  do 
not  refrain  from  robbing  and  murdering  and  burn- 
ing down  other  people's  houses  simply  because  we 
are  afraid  a  policeman  will  arrest  us  if  we  do.  We 
refrain  from  doing  such  things  because  we  are  law- 
abiding  American  citizens.  Let  us  help  to  make 
our  children  law-abiding  American  citizens,  and  not 
the  victims  of  Russian  irrational  tyranny. 

THE  BASIS  OF  PARENTS'  AUTHORITY. — Our  chil- 
dren should  understand  that  their  duty  is  not  to 
obey  our  personal  wishes,  because  we  happen  to  be 
their  parents,  but  to  obey  eternal  laws  which  we 
represent  and  expound  and  enforce.  To  take  an 
instance,  familiar  to  all  of  us,  which  comes  into  our 
everyday  experience:  Children  should  not,  any  more 
than  they  can  help,  be  "messy"  over  their  meals; 
should  not  spill  food  on  the  tablecloth,  or  on  their 
clothes,  or  be  unpleasant  in  their  way  of  eating. 
Why  should  they  not  do  these  things?  Simply 
because  their  parents  forbid  it?  Not  at  all.  Because 


110  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

it  is  their  duty,  as  members  of  a  community,  to 
make  the  common  life  as  agreeable,  as  easy,  and 
as  economically  conducted  as  possible.  Their  par- 
ents' duty  is  not  at  all  to  cry,  "You  do  it  because 
I  say  so!"  but  to  explain  reasonably  the  underlying 
grounds  of  conduct,  to  allow  a  reasonable  time  for 
an  understanding  of  the  principle  to  reach  the  child  's 
brain,  and  then  to  be  unflinching  in  their  police 
duty  of  enforcing  obedience — obedience  not  to  them- 
selves, but  to  a  law,  which  they  must  obey  as  well 
as  the  children.  If  there  is  no  such  general  broad 
basis  for  a  command  given  to  a  child,  it  is  an  unjust 
command,  and  should  not  be  issued.  No  cliild  sliouli 
~be  forced  to  obey  a  whim  of  the  parent,  but  only, 
some  modification  of  one  of  the  general  laws  which 
he  will  need  to  obey  when  he  is  grown  up. 

THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  VERY  YOUNG  CHI 
OF  UNREASONING  AGE. — Now,  of  course,  it  is  imp< 
sible  for  very  little  children  to  make  this  distinction. 
Babies  under  eighteen  months  must  be  forced  to  obey, 
if  the  occasion  rises,  as  other  little  unreasonable  ani- 
mals are  forced,  by  sheer  physical  compulsion.  But, 
as  this  is  a  very  bad  method  of  obtaining  obedience, 
the  occasions  for  requiring  obedience  should  be  sedu- 
lously avoided,  as  much  as  is  reasonably  possible, 
during  this  animal-like  period  of  the  child's  growth. 
No  one  thinks  of  requiring  obedience  of  a  week-old 
baby,  and  yet  he  is  in  many  respects  just  as  capable 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE        111 

of  being  obedient  as  many  a  year-old  child.  If  you 
need  to  move  a  week-old  baby  from  one  spot  to 
another,  you  do  not  stand  off  and  command  him 
to  move — you  pick  him  up  and  carry  him;  and  the 
same  treatment  is  often  best  for  the  irrational  year- 
old  baby. 

PARENTS  UNCONSCIOUSLY  FORCE  CHILDREN  TO  DIS- 
OBEDIENCE.— Parents,  in  their  great  anxiety  to  avoid 
that  utter  abomination,  a  disobedient  child,  often 
are  entirely  unreasonable  in  their  demands  on  very 
young  children.  You  would  not  dream  of  asking 
your  two-year-old  son  to  do  a  sum  in  arithmetic; 
and  yet  you  tell  him  peremptorily  to  do  that  far 
harder  thing,  "Do  keep  still  for  a  minute!"  He 
cannot  keep  still  for  a  minute  at  that  age,  and  to 
issue  that  command  to  him  means  simply  that  you 
yourself  are  initiating  him  into  the  meaning  of  dis- 
obedience. In  general,  then,  with  very  young  chil- 
dren, the  method  of  procedure  should  be: 

First. — To  so  arrange  his  life  that  there  shall 
be  few  needs  to  issue  commands.  A  child  who  is 
kept  quietly  at  home,  playing  with  objects  designed 
for  his  use,  who  is  not  "shown  off"  to  adults,  who 
is  not  forced  into  such  cruel  situations  as  enforced 
participation  in  adult  life,  like  traveling  on  the 
cars,  going  to  church,  or  to  shops,  or  on  the  street 
cars,  or  asked  to  entertain  a  company  of  idle  elders, 
will  rarely  be  insubordinate,  or  think  of  such  a  thing 


112  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

as  disobeying,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  things 
asked  of  him  are  within  his  capacity  to  do.  On  the 
rare  occasion  when  such  a  crisis  arises,  it  is  best 
frankly  to  treat  the  little  creature  like  a  speechless 
animal,  which  he  is,  and  enforce  obedience  to  some- 
thing necessary.  But  this  should,  in  any  ordinary 
normal  child's  life,  happen  not  more  than  once  or 
twice  up  to  his  second  year. 

Second. — As  soon  as  he  begins  to  be  able  to 
understand  simple  statements,  the  reason  for  various 
commands  given  him  should  be  explained  to  him. 
One  result  of  this  rule  is  apt  to  be  that  fewer  com- 
mands are  given,  as  they  are  often  seen  to  rest  upon 
utterly  unreasonable  grounds.  The  child  should  be 
trained,  first,  to  obey  promptly,  and  then  to  expect 
an  explanation  of  the  action.  In  most  cases  this 
careful  clarifying  in  his  mind  of  the  grounds  for 
action,  results  in  a  most  satisfactory  regime  of  reason- 
ableness. Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  child  is  seen 
climbing  upon  a  chair  before  the  sideboard  in  the 
dining-room.  His  mother  should  not  call  out  to 
him  simply,  "Come  away  from  there!"  but  should 
explain  to  him  that  it  is  dangerous  for  him  to  handle 
the  glasses,  standing  in  rows  on  the  top,  because 
he  would  be  apt  to  break  them.  If  the  child  then 
asks  to  be  allowed  to  play  with  the  spoons  in  the 
drawer,  there  is  no  reasonable  grounds  for  refusing 
that  request.  He  has  made  a  concession,  and  has 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE         113 

learned  self-control  and  obedience  in  refraining 
from  touching  the  glasses,  and  his  mother  has,  if 
she  is  alert-minded  enough  to  learn  a  lesson,  taken 
note  that  her  command,  "Come  away  from  there !" 
was  not  exactly  fitted  to  the  case.  She  should  have 
analyzed  the  situation  more  acutely,  and  see  that 
she  need  not  forbid  a  harmless  amusement  to  the 
child  because  it  happened  to  be  in  proximity  to  a 
potentially  harmful  one.  Such  frank  explanation 
and  mutual  concession  are  most  valuable  and  vital 
elements  in  the  harmonious  relations  of  parent  and 
child,  and  do  more  than  anything  else  to  prevent 
that  bitter  rebellion  against  authority  which  so  often 
saddens  the  adolescence  of  children  with  strong  wills 
and  a  keen  sense  of  justice. 

Third. — The  mother  should  make  the  most  care- 
ful distinction  between  the  conscious,  willful  action 
of  a  child,  and  the  sort  of  wild  irritability  which 
results  in  " naughty"  actions,  but  which  is  the  result 
itself  of  nervous  fatigue,  due  to  injudicious  treat- 
ment. In  the  Casa  dei  Bambini,  on  the  very  rare 
occasions  when  a  child  is  " naughty,"  he  is  treated 
as  a  "sick"  child;  is  put  off  in  a  quiet  corner  of 
the  room,  allowed  all  the  toys  he  wishes  to  play 
with,  is  soothed  and  petted,  allowed  everything  but 
(this  is  the  important  point)  to  play  with  the  other 
children.  In  a  short  time  this  reduces  the  most 
unruly  child  to  submission.  But  in  an  ordinary 


114  THE  MONTESSORT  MANUAL 

home,  with  only  two  or  three  children,  the  "naughty" 
child  is  not  privileged,  like  the  Italian  child  in  the 
Montessori  school,  to  see  constantly  before  him  the 
precious  example  of  the  orderly,  peaceable,  indus- 
trious behavior  of  thirty  other  children.  The  prin- 
ciple, however,  holds.  Nine  times  out  of  ten,  the 
" naughty"  child  is,  in  all  sober  reality,  a  sick  child, 
or  at  least  a  very  tired  child.  It  is  hard  for  adults 
to  realize  what  a  nervous  strain  it  is,  for  instance, 
for  a  child  of  three  to  see  strange  faces  for  a  few 
hours.  I  have  known  several  cases  of  children,  even 
as  old  as  four  and  five,  who  were  reduced  to  what 
was  practically  nervous  hysteria  by  a  trip  down 
town  with  an  adult,  going  in  the  street  cars,  and 
being  taken  to  several  shops.  The  mothers  of  these 
children  were  in  despair  over  their  naughty  and 
turbulent  dispositions,  as  no  amount  of  disciplining 
did  the  least  good.  Of  course,  it  did  not.  The 
child's  sensitive  nerves  were,  for  the  time  being,  in 
such  a  tense,  unnatural  state  of  strain  that  the 
child,  for  all  practical  purposes,  was  insane.  When 
another  regime  was  adopted,  of  unvarying  quiet  for 
the  child,  of  a  tranquil,  peaceful  routine,  never 
changed,  with  few  persons  in  it,  and  plenty  of  sleep, 
regularly  taken,  the  " naughty"  dispositions  van- 
ished like  magic,  and  sweet-tempered,  loving,  tract- 
able little  children  proved  that  the  trouble  had  been 
purely  physical  and  nervous. 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE         115 

Now,  this  means  in  many  ways  quite  a  sacrifice 
on  the  part  of  the  mother.  In  most  cases,  if  she 
cannot  take  the  children  with  her,  on  shopping  and 
pleasure  excursions,  she  is  obliged  to  stay  at  home 
with  them.  Sometimes,  however,  even  where  there 
is  no  grandmother  or  aunt  who  can  be  left  for  a 
few  hours  with  the  little  ones,  an  arrangement  can 
be  made  with  a  neighbor  who  also  has  little  chil- 
dren, to  " trade"  with  her,  to  take  care  of  her  chil- 
dren as  well  as  your  own  for  one  afternoon,  on 
condition  that  she  do  the  same  for  you.  If  neither 
of  these  are  possible,  then  the  mother,  if  she  is 
conscientious  and  really  wishes  to  do  the  best  pos- 
sible for  her  children,  must  simply  resign  herself 
to  a  very  quiet  life  during  their  early  childhood. 
She  can  reflect  that  she  may  expect,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  to  live  to  be  seventy  or  more  years 
old,  and  that  to  give  up  five  or  even  eight  years  of 
all  that  time  to  the  care  of  her  little  children  is 
not  a  large  proportion^  of  her  life.  And  she  will 
be  more  than  repaid,  in  the  ease  of  " managing" 
her  children,  if  she  can  secure  for  them  a  perfectly 
regular,  even,  tranquil  life,  with  absolutely  no  adult 
excitements.  She  should  keep  before  her  mind  the 
perfectly  happy,  perfectly  good  children  in  the 
Roman  Casa  dei  Bambini,  who  never,  never,  have 
a  change,  who  know  no  other  life  than  the  round 
of  work  and  fun  which  is  specially  adapted  to  them. 


116  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

If  such  a  regime  is  rigorously  adhered  to,  in  the 
ordinary  family,  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  disciplining  little  children  would  be  entirely 
obviated.  They  learn  to  obey  unconsciously,  because 
they  are  never  asked  to  exercise  their  will-power 
and  self-control,  when  their  sensitive  little  nerves 
are  at  the  breaking  point  from  fatigue  and  excite- 
ment. It  is,  of  course,  impossible  absolutely  to 
attain  this  ideal  in  the  ordinary  American  family. 
There  are  sure  to  be  cousins,  and  aunts,  and  uncles, 
and  even  grandmothers  and  grandfathers,  little  in 
sympathy  with  this  rational  and  merciful  method 
of  treating  little  children — people  who  consider  that 
part  of  a  child's  duty  is  to  amuse  and  entertain  its 
elders — people  who  say,  "Oh,  what's  the  good  of 
having  a  child,  if  you  can't  have  fun  with  it?" 
They  are  the  sort  of  people  who,  fifteen  years  ago, 
used  to  insist  upon  tossing  up  and  down  a  new- 
born baby,  shaking  bright-colored  objects  before  its 
eyes,  and  generally  driving  it  to  nervous  prostra- 
tion; whereupon  they  left  the  house,  and  the  par- 
ents were  obliged  to  nurse  the  child  over  the  almost 
inevitable  fit  of  indigestion  and  "nerves"  which  fol- 
lowed. Such  people  now  are  the  ones  who  like  to 
make  a  three-year-old  child  "show  off"  and  say 
"funny  things."  They  still  leave  the  parents  to 
bear  the  brunt  of  the  ensuing  nervous  attack. 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE        117 

SHOULD  NOT  DISCIPLINE  OR  TRY  TO  REASON  WITH 
A  CHILD  WHEN  NERVOUSLY  EXCITED. — The  only  thing 
the  mother  can  do  in  such  a  case  is  to  remember 
that  the  child  is  not  himself  when  nervously  excited. 
There  is  no  use  trying  to  " reason"  with  him,  or  to 
discipline  him,  or  arouse  his  better  nature.  For 
the  moment  he  has  no  better  nature!  He  is  nothing 
but  jangled  nerves.  A  tired  or  excited  young  child 
should  never  be  asked  to  exercise  self-control;  there 
should  be  no  occasion  for  it.  The  only  thing  to  do 
with  him  is  to  quiet  him  as  soon  as  possible  by 
purely  physical  means.  If  he  is  hungry,  get  him 
something,  very  easily  digested,  to  eat;  slip  off  his 
clothing,  give  him  a  warm  bath,  if  possible,  and 
lay  him  down  in  a  comfortable  bed,  in  a  room  not 
too  light,  with  plenty  of  fresh  air.  When  he  has 
slept  and  rested,  he  will  have  "come  to  himself," 
and  the  necessity  for  punishment  will  be  past.  He 
will,  as  he  always  does  when  he  is  in  good  physical 
condition,  desire  to  be  a  good  child.  There  will 
be  something  there  for  the  mother  to  work  with. 
Even  if  he  has  had  no  special  excitement,  there  may 
be  times,  in  the  life  of  an  especially  nervous  child, 
when  his  vitality  is  at  a  low  ebb,  and  the  regular 
routine  of  life  is  too  much  for  him.  If  he  shows 
signs  of  nervous  irritability,  snarling  and  snapping, 
or  crying  at  nothing,  he  should  never  be  reproved. 


118  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

He  should  be  put  to  bed,  not  at  all  as  a  punishment, 
but  with  the  tenderest  affection  and  the  most  solemn 
pity  for  the  poor  little  sensitive  creature.  If  there 
is  in  this  prescription  of  rest  for  nervous  fret,  no 
hint  of  punishment,  or  shame,  the  child  will  not 
resent  it,  but  will  soon  learn  to  yield  himself  up 
to  the  soothing  influence. 

How  TO  AVOID  A  " BRAIN-STORM." — If,  when 
several  little  children  are  playing  together,  the 
mother  hears  one  begin  to  speak  in  a  loud,  excited 
voice,  and  to  have  nervous,  disorganized  motions, 
such  as  knocking  the  playthings  about,  she  should 
come  up  quietly  to  the  group  and  remark  calmly 
that  "  Johnny  is  evidently  too  tired  to  play  any 
longer.  He'd  better  go  and  rest  for  a  time,  until 
he  feels  better."  Then  he  is  led  away,  very  gently. 
There  should  be  the  utmost  care  not  to  seem  to 
use  this  as  a  chastisement.  His  face  and  hands 
should  be  washed  in  cool  water  (there  is  very  apt 
to  be  a  slight  fever  present  when  nervous  irrita- 
bility sets  in),  his  clothing  loosened,  and  he  himself 
laid  on  a  bed  in  a  quiet  room.  This  treatment  has, 
in  addition  to  the  invaluable  physical  effect,  a  very 
strong  moral  one.  The  gentleness,  the  peace  of 
the  room,  the  utter  isolation,  the  inaction — there 
seems  nothing  left  for  the  child  to  battle  with,  noth- 
ing for  his  " naughtiness"  to  feed  upon.  In  fami- 
lies where  this  humane  regime  is  in  force,  I  have 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE        119 

known  instances  of  children  of  four  and  five,  who 
have  begun  to  be  self  conscious  and  reasonable,  who 
come  to  their  mothers  and  ask  to  be  put  to  bed  for 
half  an  hour,  because  they  "are  beginning  to  feel 
naughty."  Children  do  not  enjoy  the  miserable, 
unhappy  excitement  of  being  naughty,  no  matter 
what  our  misunderstanding  reading  of  them  may 
seem  to  indicate.  And  if  they  have  had  a  fair 
experience  of  a  sure  escape  from  the  " brain-storm" 
of  a  fit  of  insubordination,  they  are  very  apt  to 
resort  to  it  of  their  own  accord.  If  it  is  evident 
that  the  child  cannot  be  sleepy,  for  instance,  only 
a  short  time  after  a  nap,  another  calming  expedi- 
ent is  to  take  him  gently  away  from  the  others  to 
a  quiet  place  outdoors,  where  he  is  left  to  play  in 
solitary  proximity  to  the  bosom  of  Mother  Earth. 

But  of  course  this  remedy  cannot  be  applied,  if 
the  nervous  fit  comes  on  while  the  mother  is  pric- 
ing laces  in  a  department  store  and  the  child  hang- 
ing to  her  skirts,  or  if  they  are  at  an  "  amusement 
park,"  with  bands  braying  and  tooting  about  them, 
and  crowds  of  excited  pleasure  seekers  noisily 
going  their  way. 

This  is  another  reason  for  never  taking  children 
away  from  the  quiet  home  life,  except  to  some 
equally  quiet  spot  out-of-doors. 

This  rule  may  be  relaxed,  of  course,  as  the  chil- 
dren grow  older,  but  it  should  be  relaxed  very 


120  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

gradually,  with  the  fewest  possible  breaks  in  the 
tranquil  and  unchanging  life. 

Fourth. — NECESSITY  FOR  CONSTANT  ACTIVITY  IN 
EARLY  CHILDHOOD. — The  final  lesson  we  American 
mothers  have  to  learn  from  Dr.  Montessori  and 
her  wonderful  success  with  the  training  of  little 
children,  is  the  lesson  of  positiveness,  as  opposed 
to  negativeness  in  their  lives.  The  craving  for 
constant,  unceasing  activity  in  little  children  is 
intense.  This  is  a  normal  and  blessed  instinct  of 
theirs,  which  does  more  than  anything  to  develop 
them.  And  the  mother  should  constantly  bear  it 
in  mind.  Her  attitude  towards  her  little  child 
should  be  as  little  negative  as  may  be;  she  should 
set  her  grown-up  wits  incessantly  to  work  to  devise 
wise,  harmless  and  beneficial  actions  for  the  child, 
not  merely  to  forbid  him  unwise  and  harmful  ones. 
And  here  the  Montessori  apparatus  is  of  incalcu- 
lable value.  It  caters  with  scientific  ingenuity  to 
the  need  for  action  of  the  small  child,  and  relieves 
the  mother's  inexperienced  brain  of  a  great  part 
of  the  strain  of  inventing  suitable  exercises  for  chil- 
dren under  six  or  seven.  The  child  can  be,  to  a 
large  extent,  turned  loose  with  the  Montessori  appa- 
ratus, with  the  certainty  that  he  will  not  hurt  him- 
self or  anything  else,  and  that  he  is  learning  some- 
thing. 

MONTESSORI   APPARATUS   NOT   ENOUGH. — But 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE         121 

Montessori  apparatus,  valuable  as  it  is,  is  not 
enough.  As  has  been  said  many  times  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  the  mother's  mind  must  be  alert  and 
ingenious  to  supplement  it  as  the  child  grows.  For 
instance,  blunt  pointed  scissors  and  plenty  of  paper 
to  cut  are  as  indispensable  as  the  geometric  insets. 
Constant  exercises  in  the  occupations  of  every-day 
life,  such  as  washing  and  wiping  toy  dishes,  and 
setting  a  small  table,  sweeping  the  floor  with  a 
small  broom,  learning  to  dust,  etc.,  are  as  necessary 
as  the  sandpaper  letters.  If  the  children  are  ini-v 
tiated  into  these  exercises  young  enough,  before 
their  natural  instinct  for  action  and  for  helpful 
action  has  been  atrophied  by  the  customary  idling 
in  early  childhood,  the  mother  will  find  the  utmost 
eagerness  for  such  activities,  and  not  at  all  the  lazy, 
shirking  attitude  towards  them  so  frequently  seen 
in  older  children,  who  did  not  have  proper  train- 
ing in  their  early  life. 

HABIT  OF  OBEDIENCE  A  SLOW  GROWTH. — Does  all 
this  seem  a  long  way  from  the  question  of  obedi- 
ence? It  is  not  in  the  least.  For  the  question 
of  obedience  in  the  young  children  is  largely  con- 
cerned with  other  matters  than  obedience,  or  to  put 
it  differently,  with  indirect  means  of  attaining 
obedience.  Obedience  for  the  moment  can  always  be 
attained  directly  by  the  brutal  method  of  using 
force,  because  the  adult  is  always  stronger  tKan 


122  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

the  little  child.  But,  of  course,  obedience  of  this 
sort  lasts  exactly  as  long  as  the  force  can  and  is 
applied,  which  means  an  ungoverned  adolescence 
for  the  child,  and  a  childhood  full  of  anger  and 
storms  of  rebellion. 

The  other  kind  of  obedience,  the  right  kind, 
can  be  attained  only  very  gradually,  for  it  is  at 
least  as  difficult  an  achievement  as  learning  the 
multiplication  table.  The  child  needs  to  begin  with 
very  small  beginnings  in  this  as  in  any  other  im- 
portant activity  of  his  life,  to  be  asked  in  early 
childhood  to  obey  as  seldom  as  possible,  because  his 
life  is  rightly  and  carefully  suited  to  his  needs;  to 
have  the  reason  for  obedience;  the  real,  underly- 
ing philosophic  reason  explained  to  him  as  soon  as 
possible  and  as  often  as  necessary;  never  to  be 
asked  or  expected  to  obey  when  he  is  having  what 
amounts  to  a  fit  of  hysteria;  and,  finally,  to  have 
his  life  so  filled  with  interesting,  profitable  and 
entertaining  occupations  that  the  question  of  obedi- 
ence enters  into  it  very  little.  Through  the  daily 
experience  of  living  a  well-ordered,  industrious,  pur- 
poseful life,  he  learns,  unconsciously  the  joys  of 
peace  and  tranquillity,  and  he  comes  to  be  as 
unwilling  to  wreck  these  by  insubordination  as 
mother  is  unwilling  to  have  him.  Like  any  other 
good  habit,  obedience  cannot  come  from  one  or  two 
violent  efforts.  It  must  come  from  a  long,  long 


MONTESSORI    IDEAS    ABOUT    DISCIPLINE         123 

continuance  in  the  right  conditions.  And  to  secure 
these  "right  conditions"  the  Montessori  apparatus, 
method  and  philosophy  are  the  most  potent  means 
as  yet  discovered. 

vn 

SOME  OF  THE  QUESTIONS  THAT  AEE 
ANSWERED 

Who  is  Dr.  Montessori?  16 

What  facts  about  children  did  she  rediscover?  17 

What  is  the  single  most  important  principle  of  her  Method  ? 
What  three  principles  may  be  said  to  sum  up  the  Method  ?  19 

On  what  principles  can  children  learn  without  detailed  instruc- 
tion? 21 
Why  should  the  five  senses  be  carefully  and  directly  trained  ?      23 
What  is  a  Casa  dei  Bambini  ?  25 
Will  little  children  learn  useful  things  if  not  forced  to  stop 

playing  ?  26 

Why  is  spontaneous  attention  better  than  forced  attention?  27 
Is  it  well  to  help  the  child  with  his  Montessori  problems  ? 

28,  29,  30,  32 
Do  little  children  as  a  rule  learn  best  through  the  eyes  or 

through  the  fingers?  33 

What  are  some  of  the  essentials  for  teaching  system  and 

order?  35,36,82 

Why  should  a  child  learn  to  dress  and  feed  himself  as  early  in 

life  as  possible  ?  37 

Why  should  the  little  child  not  be  hurried?  39 

Why  is  a  very  large  rag  doll  to  be  especially  valued  as  a  play- 
thing? 40 
Should  little  children  be  allowed  to  handle  or  play  with  small 

objects?  38 

How  can  children  be  taught  to  ''see  with  the  fingers"?  34 

What  are  some  of  the  advantages  of  learning  to  do  things  by 

touch  rather  than  by  sight?  35 

Does  Montessori  freedom  for  the  child  mean  upsetting  all  or- 
der in  the  household  or  schoolroom?  29 
Why  the  child  needs  training  in  bodily  poise  and  how  this  can 
be  obtained.                                                                   67,  68,  69 


124  THE  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 

Should  children  be  allowed  to  play  with  water  ?    How  ?    Why  ?     7( 

Should  little  children  do  housework?    How?  71,  72 

How  should  the  alphabet  be  taught? 

What  are  the  three  signs  by  which  a  Montessori  mother  or 
teacher  can  tell  when  the  child  is  nearly  ready  for  the 
explosion  into  writing  ? 

Should  a  little  child  have  pets  of  his  own  ? 

What  is  meant  by  a  "Montessori  scheme  of  existence"  for  lit- 
tle children? 

Should  a  child's  life  have  some  unvaryingly  regular  events? 

Under  what  conditions  do  little  children  take  an  interest  in 
arithmetic?  84,  85,  86 

How  should  the  numbers  be  taught?  87 

How  can  arithmetic  be  taught  by  means  of  games?  88 

How  can  the  Montessori  game  of  "Making  the  Silence"  be 
duplicated  in  the  home? 

Why  should  a  child  practice  exercises  in  immobility?  96 

Why  should  a  child 's  actions  about  the  house  be  as  free  as  pos- 
sible? 97,98 

How  can  ordinary  incidents  in  home  life  be  turned  into  Mon- 
tessori exercises? 

Should  little  children  be  allowed  to  play  with  books?  With 
delicate  breakable  objects?  Under  what  conditions? 
Why?  100 

Should  a  little  child  use  a  tin,  a  silver  or  a  china  cup  ?  101 

ABOUT  OBEDIENCE  AND  HOW  IT  IS  OBTAINED 

What  should  a  mother  always  add  to  the  command  "Don't  do 

that"?  112 

Why  should  the  little  child  be  trusted  as  much  as  possible  ? 

Should  a  child  be  taught  to  obey  as  is  an  anynal  ?  108 

Should  children  be  forced  to  obey  commands  based  on  personal 
wishes  of  their  parents  ?  109 

Why  should  children  always  feel  that  they  are  obeying  a  law, 

not  an  adult's  whim?  110 

How  can  unreasonable  commands  be  avoided  ?  99 

Under  what  general  conditions  of  life  is  the  question  of  obedi- 
ence simplified?  108,  109 

Why  is  there  need  for  clear  thinking  in  issuing  commands  for 
children?  110 

Under  what  conditions  are  "naughty"  actions  not  punishable? 

Why  is  it  important  that  the  child's  natural  impulse  to  see  and 

to  do  things  should  not  be  suppressed  ?  97 


MONTESSORI  IDEAS  ABOUT  DISCIPLINE          125 

How  does  the  Casa  dei  Bambini  inculcate   absolutely  quiet 

life  for  young  children?  115 

How  treat  a  nervously  exhausted  child  who  is  acting  as  if  it 

were  naughty?  114 

How  to  avoid  children's  brain  storms? 

Why  do  children  seem  to  enjoy  being  naughty?  119 

Why  should  little  children  share  in  adult  life  and  pleasures  as 

little  as  possible  ?  115 

Should  the  mother's  attitude  toward  the  child  ever  be  purely 

negative  ?  120 

Why  is  enforced  unreasoning  obedience  fatal  to  real  growth  ?     121 
How  can  the  right  kind  of  obedience  be  obtained  by  little 

effort?  122 

ABOUT  DIDACTIC  MATERIALS 

What  are  the  aims  of  the  Montessori  Apparatus?  47 

What  precaution  should  be  taken  to  heart  by  everyone  using 

the  apparatus?  24 

What  is  the  best  course  to  follow  when  just  beginning  the  use 

of  the  Montessori  materials?  31 

Has  a  mother  at  home  any  advantage  of  the  Montessori  prin- 
ciples over  the  best  teachers  ?  30 
In  which  direction  should  all  Montessori  "touching"  exercises 

betaken?    Why?  •      35,48 

If  the  child  is  not  interested  in  a  piece  of  apparatus  or  an  exer- 
cise, should  he  be  coaxed  or  induced  to  go  on  with  it  ? 

36,  41,  48,  57,  85 

What  are  the  two  special  uses  of  the  buttoning  frames  ?  35 

How  shall  a  child  be  introduced  to  the  Tower  Blocks  ?  42 

What  should  be  done  with  the  first  used  pieces  of  the  Montes- 
sori apparatus  when  new  pieces  are  brought  out  ?  41 
Why  should  Montessori  apparatus  be  used  only  for  the  purpose 

for  which  it  was  intended  ?  45 

What  games  can  be  played  with  the  Fabric  Squares  ?  50 

How  can  the  child  be  taught  the  names  and  qualities  of  other 

fabrics  than  those  in  the  Montessori  apparatus?  52 

What  games  are  good  for  the  sense  of  hearing  ?  53,  54 

What  is  the  use  of  the  Plane  Geometric  Insets?  55 

What  games  can  be  played  to  sharpen  the  sense  of  color?  64 

Why  are  the  Sandpaper  Letters  so  necessary?  73,  74 

What  games  can  be  played  with  the  Alphabet  ?  75 

What  are  some  simple  home  pieces  and  furnishings  that  will 

supplement  and  substitute  for  the  Montessori  ?  90 


INDEX  TO  MONTESSORI  MANUAL 


Arbitrary  classification  of  school- 
children undesirable,  13. 

Advantage  of  blindfold  exercises,  57, 
58. 

Avoiding  "  brain-storms, "  118. 

Activity  an  essential  of  child-life,  68. 

Beginning  of  habit  of  obedience,  112, 
121  ff. 

Child's  share  in  life  of  the  home,  71, 
81  ff,  97  ff. 

Dr.  Montessori 's  training,  17. 

Description  of  Casa  dei  Bambini, 
25  ff. 

Does  ordinary  modern  education  do 
more  harm  than  good?  10. 

Direction  in  which  ''touching  exer- 
cises" should  always  be  taken,  48, 
56. 

Disadvantages  of  the  mother  at  home 
compared  to  Montessori  Directress, 
79,  80. 

Difficulties  of  English  spelling,  76. 

Discipline  and  Obedience,  107  ff. 

Gymnastic  exercises,  67  ff. 

How  the  bright  child  is  kept  back  by 
ordinary  systems  of  education,  12, 

-Lo» 

Habits  of  neatness  and  order  a 
part  of  Montessori  training,  36,  37. 

How  young  a  child  should  we  expect 
to  obey  orders?  110. 

Home-made  exercises,  38,  40,  70,  98, 
99,  100,  121. 

Importance  of  training  senses,  23. 

Montessori  qualities  in  a  child,  31. 

Need  for  great  quiet  and  regularity 
in  the  child-life,  63,  111,  113.  114  ff. 

Nature  Study,  103  ff. 

Purpose  of  Montessori  apparatus,  23, 
47. 

Some  advantages  of  the  mother  at 
home  over  the  Montessori  Direct- 
ress, 30. 


Self-education   a   vital   necessity,   32, 

42. 

Silence  training,  93  ff. 
Spontaneity  an  essential,  70,  106. 
Trust  of  the  child,  101. 
Teaching  self-control,  96  ff. 
Tired  child  not  a  " naughty"  child, 

113,  117,  119. 
Teaching  the  use  of  sense  of  touch, 

33. 
Underlying       idea       of       Montessori 

Method,  19,  20,  21,  24. 
Vicious  habit  of  passivity,  14. 
Value  of  free-will  over  enforced  at- 
tention  to   study,    27,    48,   57,   63, 

79,  85. 

What  should  education  do?  10. 
Waste  of  time  in  average  systems  of 

education,  11,  12. 
Water-play,  70. 

Why  should  parents  be  obeyed?  109. 
Use  of  apparatus — 

Arithmetic     for     young     children, 
83  ff,  88  ff. 

Buttoning    frames,    35;     Exercises 
supplementary  to,  40. 

Block  Tower,  41,  43. 

Broad  Stair,  43. 

Beginning  use  of  pencil,  61,  62. 

Long  Stair,  45. 

Movable  alphabet,  75  ff,  91,  92. 

Outlines  of  plane  insets,  59. 

Plane  geometric  insets,  55. 

Review  exercises  with  apparatus,  77. 

Sandpaper  board,  47,  49. 

Sandpaper  alphabet,  73  ff. 

Sandpaper  numbers,  87,  91. 

Solid  geometric  insets,  31 ;   supple- 
mentary exercises  to,  38. 

Textile  exercises  with  fabrics,  50. 

Tactile  exercises  with  solids,  52. 

Training  sense  of  hearing,  53. 

Training  the  eye,  64  ff. 
Questions  answered,  124. 


126 


14  DAY  USE 

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RECEIVED 


M/21'67-10 


f    -~ 


LD  21A-60/-. 
(H241slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


635 


o.^ 


L 


